


More of The School of Adventure

by Beecharmer



Series: All Change and School of Adventure Saga [3]
Category: Adventure Series - Enid Blyton, Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Famous Five - Enid Blyton, Malory Towers - Enid Blyton, St Clare's - Enid Blyton
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:15:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23901442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beecharmer/pseuds/Beecharmer
Summary: Continuation of The School of Adventure. This may never be fully finished, since School of Adventure is a sort of Sitcom, but will try to not leave on a cliff hanger if I can!
Series: All Change and School of Adventure Saga [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719823
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

The character lists are on The School of Adventure, this is a sequel / continuation.


	2. Chapter 2

The term had ended a week before, and now there was an unusual silence all around Island School, more commonly known already as The School of Adventure. The many pupils had all gone back to their homes, full of the term's happenings.

Even so, there were so many of the staff around that John and Josie Kirren were still slightly expecting the rules to apply, the morning bell to ring, and the sounds of others waking all around them. Waking each day back in their own bedrooms back in Kirren Farmhouse was disorientating, and they both found it hard to begin with to fall asleep, without the night noises always heard in their dormitories. John even found himself missing Ranni's snores, and Josie still kept an ear out in case Felicity Maynard walked in her sleep. 

Daytime wasn't much easier to get used to. There hadn't been any time to decorate the house for christmas, and they weren't sure whether they would even be getting a tree. After all, there was one already over in the staff room, perhaps that was meant to be shared by them all. To add to their feeling of discontent, neither of the twins was quite sure how they should be acting around the adults.

They were used to Con and Ted being around, and were able to slip back into seeing them as fun aunts, but it was harder with the other staff. Nell Wilson, Charlie Mackensie and Penny Parker tended to keep to themselves in the main body of the school, as did Irene and Belinda. But Sam Harbottle and Anton Biddle were used to wandering in and out of the farmhouse, since they'd lived there during the building works. Ruey Richardson was also used to being part of Len and Con's family, so didn't think anything of turning up for breakfast or any meal. The twins liked her well enough, but they didn't know her that well, for she'd been away training to become a PT mistress during any previous visits to Len's family. She was, they supposed, technically family; But she didn't feel that way to them. 

Tom Gay and Dinah lived in a flat within the building too, so mornings at the farmhouse could be a little hectic. Even though Tom and Dinah had been around for so much of the twin's lives that they felt like aunts too, it was still unnerving to turn into a room and always find someone in it. In the summer it had been quite exciting, having people around, but as the days before christmas ticked past, Josie in particular was finding the novelty wearing thin.

"There's ALWAYS teachers around!" she grumbled to John, as they sat in their one remaining private space, their treehouse in the farm garden.

"Mmmhf" was all that her twin could say, his mouth being full of a roll of tape he was using to patch the walls and attach extra padding for insulation. They had never spent a lot of time in the treehouse in winter, but without needing to talk about it, the twins had realised this christmas holidays would be different. Their usual haunts and the secret rooms or passages around the farmhouse had been built into, or become communal space, and it wasn't the same somehow spending all their time in their bedrooms. Thankfully, Tom Gay had picked up on this project quite quickly, and given them some quick lessons in how to use air gaps to insulate, even finding them some small panes of glass for the windows, although she warned them to remove them by summer if they didn't want to boil in the tiny space. They didn't know yet, but her christmas present to them would be some neat little shutters, better roofing and a fitted hatch door, which would make a big difference in the next few weeks. Dinah had heard of Tom's plan, and invested in a small safety stove, with a flat stone to place it on the floor, so the little treehouse would soon be far cosier. For now however, it still had gusts of cold wind passing up through the cracks, and wasn't exactly a thrilling space to spend hours in during a christmas holiday.

John finally finished his task and replied properly. His comment wasn't hugely helpful, for he was still suffering from growing pains, and his aching limbs and the chilly environment made him shorter of temper than normal. "Do shut up about it Josie! We can't exactly send them all away now can we. They live here now, after all."

His sister restrained herself from the snappy reply she wanted to give, and satisfied herself with sticking her tongue out, waiting until he had turned his head to do so. The twins had argued badly the previous term, and she was still near enough to that horrible time when they had not been talking to not want to rock the boat too much. She knew that John didn't mind all the adults being around as much as she did, for he was a generally law abiding sort of boy, and didn't tend to jealousy the way that she did. Josie had grown up a lot in her first term at the school, but she still had an unpraiseworthy tendency to resent her Aunt Ge not being instantly available. When others commented on this, both Ge and Len tended to defend the girl. After all, until she was 10 the only thing to come between Ge and the twins had been the work needed on the farm. They had taken some time to adjust to Len as stepmother, and even then the little family hadn't really been alone together that much until recently. In fact Len's hours and commuting time at her previous school had been one reason for the setting up of the little school. She had had to work as a tutor during previous christmas holidays, to make any extra money they could, for the farm had recently been unable to break even. Ge frequently would be out on the farm at all hours, even in the winter. So the twins were used to spending a lot of time by themselves, and now looked dismally towards the precious time with Len and Ge looking likely to be shared with all these other people.

With the fees from the pupils and the payments for their food provided by the farm, things were now more stable financially than they had been for years, but the twins weren't used to that yet, still sure that both Ge and Len would be working every hour available. For the past few days, this expectation had been correct, for the end of term and need to repair areas and assess what was needed for the next one had kept both of the adults extremely busy. What the twins didn't realise was that this holiday really was going to be a holiday, despite the extra people around. Ge and Len had missed the twins hugely during the term. Being their teacher or seeing them in breaks wasn't the same. They had left the twins to get on with their tree house for now, understanding that they needed a project, and escape space, but now they had finished their chores, they were determined to make up for the change to their home. They just needed a little time and space to enact their plan.

So it was that John and Josie were suddenly called in to the house, and informed that Con and Ted would be taking them to the nearest big town to buy christmas presents. Even better, as they left, the twins were each handed an envelope. Their father Dick Kirren had gone to Switzerland to begin discussions for his wedding to Margot, and had left the cash with instuctions for them to spend half of it on themselves, for christmas presents, and half to be able to buy what they wanted for their friends and family. This idea had come from Margot. She remembered all too well wanting to be able to buy more than she could afford, both for herself and for her family. Dick would love to spend even more on the twins, and on his cousin, but Ge was fiercely proud, and fully capable of sending any gifts back if they came from him directly. This way at least he gave the twins the fun of choosing, and didn't risk buying something they didn't want.

Ted and Con knew that the pair could be trusted, but there was always the risk of one or both of them being kidnapped, as had been proven the previous term. However they also knew that the pair would quickly tire of looking at the same things as they did. So they set clear bounds, and checked in frequently with the pair, but left them to themselves mainly, apart from a big feast of a tea accompanied by lots of laughter. As planned, the trip did help them realise that however much they might have to be Miss Grantley and Miss Maynard in term time, they were still Aunt Ted and Con out of school. A few words about the risk of kidnappers being about had made them cautious, although both were surprised at Ted and Con mentioning it so often. Normally the family tried to play down the risks a little, so this repeated mentioning put the pair on their guard. Perhaps the adults knew of a new risk to them. It was holiday time after all, and most Kirren adventures did happen out of term time.

As soon as the car had gone, Ge and Len went to work, ably assisted by Tom, Dinah and Nell. They had been planning for weeks, and when the twins returned they were nowhere to be seen. With barely suppressed chuckles, Ted and Con disappeared off to their own flat, and left the pair. After depositing their packages into their bedrooms, the twins descended to the kitchen, expecting to find at least one of the teachers or their family. However, the place was deserted, the only sign of life being the always burning fire in the kitchen range. They looked at each other with puzzled faces, then shrugged and made themselves a sandwich each. As they finished, a shadow passed across the window, and they looked up, expecting someone to come in. However all that happened was that there was a 'Thud!' outside, then the sounds of running footsteps. Both twins were on their feet in a second, John heading to the window to check what he could see, while impetuous Josie flew to the door and wrenched it open. Thankfully she did remember to open and half hide behind the door as she did so, just in case it was a kidnap plot. Ted and Con's deliberately repeated suggestion of possible attackers had made the pair ready for anything, as intended. The pair stared out along the garden. No one could be seen, and the thud seemed to have no explanation, until Josie of the sharp eyes spotted a package half hidden in the bushes. Roping herself to John, just in case there was anyone ready to grab her, she ventured out, eyes switching from side to side, and ears ready for any sign of life. She grabbed the package, then retreated to the kitchen with it, where the pair barred the door again and began to investigate.

As they opened the parcel, their air of intense concentration flew away and they laughed outright to see a package with a pair of christmas jumpers in (knitted by Granny Kirren they later discovered) and a list of words in Aunt Ge's distinctive hand.

"Use the words to find the next clue, and you shall see what next to do" Josie read out, her face one big grin.

They scanned the paper and quickly worked out that they were all items found on the beach. A trip to the hallway to get warmly wrapped up and grab their adventure kits, and they were off. The biting wind made their cheeks glow by the time they reached the beach, where a distinctive pile of sand was quickly excavated to find a box with the next clue.

Chortling to themselves, they quickly matched anagrams of their family's names to their owners, and took the capitals to find that their next stop was to be up at their Granmother's house, Kirren Cottage. She greeted them with a smile as wide as theirs, and gave them a big hug before passing on their next clue, which was to "Think about the little panels, you can follow it this once, Josie knows the ending best" They frowned over it for a moment, before remembering the passage between Kirren Cottage and the farmhouse, which had been repaired in recent years so that Ge could always get to her mother's house if needed. It ended in a cupboard in Josie's room, and they were usually forbidden to use it, just in case. Fanny Kirren nodded as they asked her, and they dove for the old study, long out of use, and through the passage. Piling out into Josie's wardrobe, they were both now nicely warm, and had had the mental and physical fidgets thoroughly shaken out of them.

In the time they had been away, their rooms had been decorated, and a collection of arrows in tinsel pointed them out of the room and down the stairs. The arrows stopped in the middle of a panelled corridor, part of the new extension to the farmhouse.

The twins looked all around, and then with a shout John pointed to the ceiling. Taped up there were two envelopes, quickly retrieved by him making a step for Josie to get up high enough. Inside they each found a key, and looked even more puzzled, for there seemed to be no clue where to go to next. Not to be beaten, they started looking all around for either another clue, or a keyhole, and finally they noticed a very regular looking knot in the wood panel. Pushing it, a tiny space opened, and sure enough there was a tiny keyhole.

How the secret of the panel had been kept from the twins, they never knew, but Ge had succeeded. She had found the constant stream of people being around over the summer a little overwhelming too, and it hadn't taken too much adjusting of the plans to make this secret room for her and Len to have a private sitting room to escape to on occasion. When she had seen how the twins seemed to be having to escape to their treehouse so often, she had decided that she needed to share this with them aswell, and so the idea of a treasure hunt had been born.

They looked at each other in excitement, and then John reached in an turned his key. A much larger panel slid along, and the dark corridor was suddenly bathed in light from the secret room. Inside, Len and Ge were sitting beside a beautifully decorated tree, in front of a cosy fire, with intriguing looking presents already beneath it. The twins roared their approval, and launched themselves on the pair, hugging them and exclaiming over the secret room. Ge grinned and showed them a button to shut the panel again, and the panel slid shut again, giving them a totally private, bright and cheerful family room, just big enough for them each to have space, but small enough to be easily heated by the little hearth.

"So now you know about our secret room" Len said, when the twins had finally finished nearly bouncing off the walls in excitement. "You each have a key, and during holiday time you can come here whenever you like. In term time you have to ask, but the rest of the time the only thing we ask is that you knock, and that you keep the secret as much as you can. Ted and Con know, as does Granny Kirren, but no one else does, so it's our family secret."

The looks on the children's faces made giving up their secret nook worthwhile, and Len and Ge were glad to see the pair looking more like themselves than they had in a week. The twins had been very patient about losing their home and family privacy over the past few months, and their glee at a family secret was worth millions to Ge and Len. The twins were speechless at the surprise Despite starting the holiday half seeming to be still living at school, now they knew that they really were having Christmas at Home.


	3. Chapter 3

Ted turned back from the staff room window, with a big grin on her face. The twins could be seen haring off down to the beach on their treasure hunt. The pair had been so unusually subdued for them that it was great to see them enjoying themselves.

"What's the why of that?" asked Ruey, catching the expression, then nodding as Ted explained. "It must be hard for them to know what to do with themselves. I know I found it strange being so close to the school and staff when we first came to live at Freudesheim. Teachers dropping in at all hours, all those 'Aunts'..." Here she straggled off, blushing as she realising that Nell Wilson was, of course, one of 'Those Aunts'

Mercifully ignoring Ruey's accidental rudeness, Nell took over the original topic.

"They're both in that awkward middle stage, not quite adults, nor still children. They'll settle and become used to us all in time." She said, with a smile towards Ted, Ruey and Con, who had all had to deal with a similar thing. Con smiled back but looked thoughtful as she replied. 

"I think it must have been harder for you Ruey, as you were already used to an ordinary school. For us, the school was part of our family, WAS our family. I don't really remember a time where I felt people like Aunt Nell and Aunty Hilda were teachers first and aunts second. However much we all learnt to behave differently in school hours, of course!"

Even as she joined in the conversation Charlie Mackensie felt a moment's sadness. She had missed the years with her goddaughter and this extended family. Although she would never give up her own children, they were all now off doing their own things, and without Jock things had been very lonely. She hadn't somehow built the same bonds of extended family that she remembered from Tirol days. 

"It was always that way, even before you girls came along." she said "In Tirol we somehow all...gelled. Girls and staff, we were all a family. I had assumed that would have changed as the staff grew bigger, but it sounds as though it didn't completely."

Nell nodded and agreed. "Somehow we always were closer than other schools seemed to be, every member of staff that joined ended up saying that at some point. Whether it was the family nature of things, with Madge and Joey, or just how small we were, I don't know. Or maybe it is more typical in boarding schools in isolated places perhaps? 

Penny Parker had come in halfway through the conversation, and nodded. "Certainly it isn't that typical to see as many of the staff in their leisure time as you all seem to be used to. At Malory towers we were very isolated, but the staff and girls were much less close to each other, less familiar than you all seem to have been. Don't you agree girls?"

The last part she directed at Irene and Belinda, who were in a corner of the staff room, Irene humming under her breath and Belinda sketching the little group of staff around the christmas tree. Belinda just grinned and nodded, she and Irene had taken some time that term to be able to see Penny Parker as anything other than an authority figure. Irene, in the way she had of saying something without thinking replied in a dreamy fashion. "I think it depended on the situation. You and Bill were always close. Always off together in the stable ..."

The silence that followed woke her up, and she joined Ruey in rosy embarrassment, spluttering something about "Riding... horses...that is...um " before thankfully Penny saw the funny side. Belinda grinned, for with Irene's horror at her slip, Penny's reaction and Ruey's own embarrassment earlier, she had some great unguarded faces to sketch.

"I did see young Bill as needing more help, that's true" Penny acknowleged. "She really did just live and breathe horses, and I could understand that. I didn't think about it seeming like favouritism?"

While Belinda and Irene quickly reassured her that it hadn't seemed that way, the others broke off again into small groups, decorating the tree, and making plans for the holidays. They were all excited, for this would be the first Christmas in their own little flats for several of the couples. Although they had decided to share a meal, the plan was for it to be in the evening, and in most cases the day was their own. Con was a little sad not to be at Freudesheim, but also excited to be decorating the little flat with Ted.

Nancy and Kathy were away at present, visiting her aunt and uncle, and possibly some of Nancy's family. No one seemed quite sure whether they would be at the school on Christmas day or not. Nell detected some conflict, but wisely was leaving them to resolve it. She had rarely felt lucky with the loss of her family, but it had at least meant that she had never had this complicated dance of how to balance visits and time with both sides of the family. She had been able to decide for herself where to go, what to do, and her family remained with her in her heart, wherever she woke up on Christmas morning. She hadn't had the issues that these couples seemed to, with split loyalties, emotional pulls on every side. 

Nell looked around the little staff room thoughtfully. It really was an unusual mix, with so many of the resident staff either near retirement or at a very early stage in their careers. In the Chalet school there had been a lot of old girls, but there had always been a range of ages. Any new girl starting as a mistress might find a few of the staff had taught her, but here there was a difference. Con, Len, Ruey and Ted had been part of her own extended family for so long now that she struggled to remember sometimes that they were mistresses now, not just prefects. Especially the Maynards, for she had seen them grow from babies to the young adults they were today.

She smiled to herself, remembering past Christmases.

The triplets unexpectedly getting new skis and dancing around the room with them, narrowly missing various ornaments until shooed out by Joey;

The time Mike swopped some of the labels around was another one that still made Nell smile. She could see the scene as if it was right before her. Charles opening Felicity's present, and too polite to say, but somewhat bemused by receiving dancing slippers, Cecilly doing her best to be excited about a slide rule meant for her eldest brother. It had been an unusually quiet present opening, until Stephen roared with laughter to get a new dress meant for Adrienne and Mike's grin gave him away;

An excited 4 year old Len carrying a new toy, determined to show it to 'Marraine'. Nell had tried not to have favourites, but her goddaughter had managed to win her heart very quickly. Len knew somehow that this 'Aunt' belonged to her, and as a child had shown it openly. Snuggling up onto Nell's lap to be read a story; Holding a hand or onto an edge of a skirt at any opportunity; Wanting to sit next to her at meals, to have Nell's help dressing for a walk; An immediate grin appearing when her Godmother arrived, and struggle not to do the same at school.

It wasn't until the Maynards went to Canada that Nell realised just how much she looked forward to, and enjoyed these little things. She had been busy, thankfully, so the time had passed eventually, but two years older made a big difference to the obvious signs of affection. Con and Margot would always be important to her, but even before they had left, Nell had been less involved with Margot. Her keen insight into how spoiled Margot had become had meant that the girl knew she couldn't get away with much with 'Aunty Nell' and therefore avoided her slightly, in favour of more easily charmed adults. Con didn't show things as obviously as Len, but was quietly affectionate, and Nell would always have a soft spot for her. Being cuddled up to after a nightmare or sleepwalking session would have melted harder hearts than hers, however strict she had to be at school. Con certainly came a very close second. Charlie being so far away had meant that she couldn't have the active part in the girl's life that had been originally planned. Nell had wanted to take the place of the lost godmother, hard as it was to think about Charlie having left.

However as the triplets aged, Con's dreamy creativity tended to bemuse the more matter of fact Science mistress, and she had tended to leave Con more to Hilda. She had also wondered about the relationship with her and Ted, and a fear that she had influenced the girl, had somehow caused the situation had made her back away, keep her distance. Now she realised that it wasn't likely, but it had been a very real worry for her.

In contrast Len wasn't really at all scientific, but she was still more... Well - more 'present' and aware of the world around her. Nell had seen her struggle and beat her natural untidiness, work hard at her lessons, and finally learn to let her sisters make their own mistakes. Then later, struggling to know how to deal with becoming in effect a stepmother at only 20, to balance her two families. Now she was proud, seeing Len finding her feet with the twins, building her own little family, and Ted and Con an established, stable adult couple, but it made her realise just how quickly the time had passed.

The little group had moved on to other topics, but she didn't join in, lost in thoughts of past years. Charlie looked at her quizzically, and Nell shook her head in reply. She would tell her later, but the thoughts were too scattered to really be worth repeating.

Charlie herself was sad to be unable to be with her family, but since they were spread throughout Australia, she wouldn't have been able to afford to see them anyway. That given, she was glad not to be spending the day in a hotel, or alone at school. She and Nell had shared christmases alone before, so it wasn't the new excitement that the younger couples had, but had quietly found themselves restarting old traditions, remembering times together in Nell's cottage, or in the Tirol. 

It wasn't a conventional christmas, but for the little group just starting out on their new lives here at the school, it was a Happy one.


	4. Chapter 4

"That's the last of them! All done for another term!" 

Hilda placed her last bit of paperwork in the 'Done' pile and sat back in her chair with a sigh. The silent office noted her finishing, but unfortunately wasn't able to give any response. Rosalie had left the day before, Gwyneth was off in San finishing her own tasks, and everyone else had left on the same day as the girls, or at worst the one following. So an empty office, and nearly silent school, were the only witnesses to her scaled mountain of chores.

The term had been a good one, with only minor escapades from the middles, and a small epidemic during an avalanche to deal with. During the busy days of running the school, Hilda had been able to nicely ignore the gaping hole left in her life by Nell's new career path. She had been able to bury herself in work and school events, and friends had rallied around to distract her in any off duty time. She'd almost been able to pretend to herself that Nell was simply busy over at St Mildreds. Only now, in the spaces that would usually be filled by Nell whooping and proposing a toast to finished work, did she have a chance to register the change, notice how quiet her life was now that Nell was gone.

Holiday habits and traditions arrive so slowly that it was easy to not even notice them. With Nell's lower paperwork load at St Mildreds, it had become an unspoken end of term rule that she would keep Hilda company during at least the last day of chores 'The Abbess' had to complete. A day, Hilda realised ruefully, that she normally would have reached at least 24 hours sooner than she had this year. The work load was the same, but her own efficiency had dropped dramatically. The last few jobs had always seemed to fly by, when accompanied by irreverent gossip, mince pies made by Nell herself - always delivered with a flourish and a grin. "My one claim to culinary excellence, if I do say so myself"

This statement was always followed by Hilda pretending to taste Pepper, Saffron or cod liver oil and asking whether Bill wanted extra Domestic Science lessons. To which Nell would respond by pretending offence to such a great insult, and insisting on a glass of something strong to sooth her wounded pride. Not that she ever managed more than a cup of coffee, Hilda having a strict rule of no drinking when working, and Nell falling in with the situation with grumbles about christmas time being an ideal time to have exceptions to such rules.

Hilda grinned to herself at the memory of one year where Nell actually HAD made an error, mixing up the salt and sugar due to very faint labelling and an overdue change of glasses prescription. Her own reaction had been instant and dramatic. A huge mouthful had been rapidly returned to the plate in a most unheadmistresslike manner. Nell's look of surprise and clear belief that Hilda was simply overdoing the normal banter. Not until she had taken a bite herself did she realise the error, and there followed an even less dignified exit for the food, into her cup of coffee as the nearest option.

Hilda slowly began to tidy her desk, still smiling to herself at the memory. They had laughed for some time about that little mix up. However, a science mistress who couldn't read a label really was a cause for concern, once she had had time to forget Nell's face at the taste of her prized confections. Hilda had worried about it all holiday, and had made enquiries of Davida Armitage about the labelling of chemicals, although without giving the reason, loyal to her friend's dignity. She didn't want any suggestion of a problem, but had been intending on subtly arranging all new very clear markings, only to find that Nell had clearly already admitted the issue and arranged for Vida to check and the pair had relabelled all slightly faded materials immediately the younger mistress had returned. Although a trip to the eye doctor had made a repetition unlikely, Nell wasn't taking any chances.

The other routine, one Hilda hadn't even registered until this year, when it didn't happen, was an unconscious humming of christmas carols, sometimes just Nell, other times both of them. Nell would be pretending to read the paper and chafe at Hilda's slowness, while trying to see what things she could do herself to lighten to load - never succeeding, since Hilda was firmly of the belief that it was quicker to do a job than try to explain what needed to be done. Hilda had been sure that these little diversions added to the time taken, but this first year without them had proven just the opposite to be true. Without the companionship and little breaks for chatter, her efficiency had dropped, and she struggled to make decisions that were usually second nature to her.

She stood for a moment, looking out over the garden, but not really seeing anything there. She ought to be going to get changed, and then to wander over to Joey's in time for an early Abendessen, but she was lost in thought, remembering all those shared christmases, whatever the school location. She didn't need Nell to complete her life, the school was her vocation, and she had extended family all around her for company - they would take over her every spare minute if she would let them. But she had underestimated just how many special events they had shared over the past couple of decades. Her memories of nearly every christmas involved Nell, and the majority of those memories made her smile as she thought of them. She knew, during most of those years, that Nell had wanted more, was set up to be attracted to women. She had wished, on more than one occasion, that she could honestly accept the love that was being offered. She did love Nell, but it really was a truly platonic love, much as she understood Nell's own situation. In fact, if she had been interested in either men or women, she probably thought she would have chosen her own sex rather than the traditional route of a husband and children. There would be much less...less mess and complication, she felt, in a female relationship. Nothing too messy to distract from her real passion, which was the school, her pupils, and the good she could do by helping these youngsters find their way in life.

She sighed again, and slowly made her way to her own quarters to change. She had been luckier than she realised, over the years. Nell's initial adoration, then later comfortable companionship had allowed her the perks of a relationship without any of the bits she thought of as 'messy', without being tied to another person's emotional state. Not that she had been unfeeling towards Nell, she loved her in her own way. But it, oh it wasn't the same, somehow. It wasn't the need for each other that was obvious with Jack and Joey, or the desire to spend every spare moment together that was clear to all who knew Nancy and Kathy. That type of bond needed more than welcoming a familiar face when convenient and shared experiences. Hilda knew that, although she couldn't quite put her finger on what the difference was, why she knew that a relationship wasn't for her. She just did, and there was no sense in pretending otherwise, especially not if it had kept Nell from getting on with her own life.

It sounded as though Nell was doing just that, from the letters and occasional phone calls that came from England. The new school sounded as though it was a success, and the weather was now suiting Nell far better than the icy Swiss winters did. Hilda knew that the past few years had been hard, with Nell's old injury and general aching joints. There had been little challenge, either, with fewer and fewer girls going on to St Mildreds. The beginning of the end had been Madge stopping her own daughter from going. The reasons had been good, of course, and it was only due to the timing of the Autralian trip. But when the founder of the school didn't consider a year of 'finishing' that important for her own daughter, well it was an indication of a changing world. Nell would have hated retirement, and Hilda understood that, having no intention of doing so herself until she absolutely had to do so.

Aside from the excitement in her new role, and the dramas that seemed to abound in the little school, Nell had another life change fast approaching, Hilda was sure. Although she had heard nothing from Nell officially, she could sense that she and Con Mackensie were either fast becoming an item again or, Hilda suspected, already were a couple. Nell would tell her in time, she was sure, but Hilda was no fool. No one had said anything specific, but little snippets of information had a way of filtering through. Hilda had regular letters from Len, Con, Nancy and Kathy as well as Nell herself, and Joey clearly suspected something was going on as well, for she had been clearly diverting the conversation whenever Con Mackensie's name came up. Although, of course the name never did come up, for everyone seemed to be calling her Charlie now, but to Hilda she would always be Con, and Con Stewart, however many years she had been Mackensie now.

It was sweet of Joey to try to protect her feelings. For all that Hilda had made it clear that she and Nell hadn't been a couple, Joey clearly still had her doubts on the emotional side. Hilda didn't bother to try to explain it again, it wasn't worth it, and would only complicate matters. She couldn't really articulate the difference, the fact that she didn't feel jealousy as such. In fact she really was glad for Nell, and a part of her was more peaceful suspecting the pair had got back together. She had realised, too late, that her own intense friendship with Nell had caused a rift between the two, and had possibly contributed to Charlie's sudden departure. She hadn't realised for many years quite what had happened, for she had been distracted by her new responsibilities, and innocent of the fact that Nell and Charlie were actually a couple. She knew quite strongly inside herself that all she wanted from Nell was friendship, and she had simply assumed for the longest time that Nell was the same.

So, no - she didn't feel upset about the possibility of Nell's romance, she loved Nell and wished her well. It was a very different type of jealousy she felt - and one hard to articulate. She missed her friend, and envied a whole school. Charlie would be getting to hear Nell's slightly off key humming of Silent Night. Nancy and Kathy might be enjoying end of term distraction from their tasks and Nell's mince pies. This Maths mistress, Penny Parker, would perhaps be listening to Nell's theories on how St Nick might theoretically be able to fulfil all those present deliveries in one night. Hilda smiled to herself at this thought, and acknowledged that that part perhaps wasn't a scene she would regret. Nell's tendency to get into deep discussions on advanced physics or other scientific theories when slightly drunk was not a tradition Hilda had enjoyed one bit. She rarely liked to admit any limitations, but time travel and multi dimensional theories left her feeling like a kindergarten baby on occasion, and she frequently resorted to simply smiling and nodding.

She hadn't realised either, how much she had become used to Nancy and Kathy being around, and always to be relied upon. She missed their humour and the entertainment they often provided. She was proud of the pair, and the success they seemed to be making of the new school. She knew that the relative freedom to be a couple, to have some privacy was well overdue. However she felt that little stab of jealousy again, that they had chosen a new route, a place that was so far away, and somewhere that she couldn't follow. Hilda knew from the accounts of this school that it wasn't for her. Nell had always been more easy going in her career status, she would be happily able to take a back seat from leadership. But Hilda knew herself, and knew that she couldn't have done the same, couldn't have gone from being Head to being just one of a group of mistreses. Nor did she really want to go back to England. The Chalet School was her life, and much of her time as Head in Britian had been fraught with drama, stress and change. The remove to Armishire, then those damn drains, and yet another remove to the Island. Her accident, and the constant red tape that had to be dealt with due to having foriegn nationals involved with the school during the war. It had been a huge relief to return to the Alps, and Hilda's only regret with resect to this new school was how much of a distruption it had made to her own life, and she was ashamed to admit that emotion, even to herself.

It actually didn't help Hilda's irrational jealousy of a school that two of her other dear loves were also to be there instead of the Platz this christmas. She had just as many memories of the triplets growing up as Nell, and just as secret a tendency to prefer Len and Con to Margot and her 'devil'. She would miss seeing the girls, and understood Joey's occasional wails at how quickly children grew up. It seemed only yesterday that she was cradling a tiny red headed baby while two others were near enough to gurgle at her efforts to entertain them.

She shook herself, and told herself to stop being so maudlin. The girls were fit and healthy, and she would see them often enough, she was sure. Margot herself was due to arrive soon with her fiance, and that would be an interesting situation, for the man was relatively unknown to Jack and Joey, despite his fame as a film actor. Hilda herself was at least familiar with Richie Kirren's face, for she had dealt with pile upon pile of photos or posters of the actor confiscated from girls over the past few years. What he was like as a man, none of them knew, and it seemed likely to be an interesting Christmas while the family tried to assess whether they wanted him in their midst or not.

Finally ready for her short journey over to Fruedesheim, Hilda stepped out into the fresh,cold air. She gasped as the cold hit her, but enjoyed the feeling of cleansing, of scarifying away the fug of a few days spent indoors. Her thoughts had been far too inward recently, she told herself firmly. She might have a lot of change to deal with this Christmas, she might miss her friends and extended family. But she had many blessings, and many loved ones still on the Platz wanting to extend their holiday celebrations to include her. As if to illustrate, she saw ahead of her a well wrapped up little welcoming party.

"Aunty Hilda ! We thought you were never coming!" Cecil cried, and Phil and Geoff confirmed this with their own calls of welcome, each bouncing along beside her competing to tell her about their day, and ask she she had been so long. She took the little hands offered to her and allowed herself to be half towed off to the house, where she was greeted by a welcoming cry from as many of her other honorary nieces and nephews as were there, and given mulled wine and a mince pie. Joey was warm and welcoming as ever, and she was pleased to see that Gwyneth was there already, and to be quietly greeted by Stacie and a visiting Grizel and Neil. She found herself laughing and for a short while forgetting all the changes, and her feelings of loss. In fact one unexpected benefit occurred to her as she prepared for bed later. Without Nell, Len and Con there, she had been more aware of the others, had spoken to some people for longer, had had the time to chat with Stacie for some time without being encouraged by Nell to join in the more active fun all around them. She had been able to appreciate how like Len Stephen was in character, had been able to concentrate on the younger Maynards without being conscious all the time of how much responsibility Len and Con were always taking on.

Back at her rooms, she prepared for bed. The telephone downstairs rang, surprising her with how it echoed in the quiet school. She contemplated leaving it, but assumed that it was Joey checking that she had arrived safely.

"Though quite where the silly girl thinks I might have gone, I don't know" she grumbled amicably as she drew her dressing gown on and headed towards the noise. On arrival, she was confused to realise that it was the external line - and stared at it for a moment before pulling herself together and answering it.

"Hello? Hilda?" came a familiar voice, and Hilda must have replied, although she couldn't have told anyone later what she had said. Her thoughts had immediately flown to a possible tragedy or problem, but the next lines showed how baseless those fears had been.

"Can't stay on long, costing the earth." Nell said. "Just wanted to say hello, and, well, you know. Merry End of Termmass. Hope you aren't overworking yourself. Remember you need a break as much as anyone!"

Hilda smiled at the familiar warning, and chatted briefly, then hung up. The few minutes of conversation had been enough to pass an unspoken message, and she felt almost tearful at how happy that made her feel. No matter how far away, whether in a relationship, or busy with a new life, Nell was still there, was still her friend, and Hilda wasn't forgotten. The arrival the next day of a batch of Nell's mince pies, sent along with Margot all the way from the School of Adventure brought a further smile to her face, and Hilda settled herself down to enjoy her christmas, and start some new traditions with all the loved ones still around. A different Christmas, to be sure, but most importantly - a happy one.


	5. Chapter 5

Margot looked back at the twins, fast asleep in the back seat, then grinned at Dick. The journey had been a long one, and the pair had been determined not to fall asleep, but had finally drifted off just as they passed Paris. Dick grinned back, and glanced in the rear view mirror at Felix leaning at a seemingly uncomfortable angle against the window frame.

"He's going to have a stiff neck when he wakes up" he said in the low tone that both knew carried far less than a whisper.

"He's 13, he'll be fine" was the unsympathetic response of that young gentleman's sister. "He should have taken the pillows when we offered."

They settled back into a companionable silence, both looking forward to their next stop, which would be just before Calais. They had planned initially on driving the whole way through, but the long journey to swizterland just before christmas had proved to them that it wasn't practical. A friend of Dick's, Pierre Lenoir, had family near the ferry terminal, and a quick call had been all that was needed to get them accommodation for the night. Margot had been glad, although nervous to meet friends of Dick's when feeling so travel stained and weary. Dick had brushed off any concerns however, saying that Pierre, or Sooty as he called him, wouldn't be there anyway, for he lived in England, not that far from the school. He barely knew these people, having only met Sooty's sister a couple of times, and not under the simplest of circumstances. The twins had picked up on this comment and clamoured to be told the details, and the story of the Famous Five going to Smugglers Top had occupied a large part of the early journey.

Margot sneaked another quick look back at the twins, but they were still deeply asleep. She moved her hand over towards Dick's leg, and rested it there, enjoying the companionable connection. Had they been alone, he would probably have risked taking his hand from the wheel or gear stick, and held it lightly, a common habit of theirs when driving. But he was obsessively concerned about their precious cargo, for he knew how annoyed he would be if anyone drove even slightly carelessly with his own children in the back. Jack Maynard's opinion of his sportscar as fragile and ill suited for the roads had only amplified this, so he was driving in such a careful fashion that bemused drivers of larger cars kept passing them to begin with, until they had got far enough away from the Platz that some of his normal habits came back and he drove a more sensible speed.

The christmas holidays at Freudesheim had passed without major incident, much to the relief of all concerned. The initial frostiness that Jack displayed towards Dick had thankfully thawed through the days all together, and he was far happier about the engagement than he had been initially. After the situation with Reg, and the difficulties with Len and Ge, Jack had been hoping that Margot might chose someone her own age this time, or failing that, continue with her studies. He had been unimpressed when they had arrived in Dick's sports car, and had been able to shower gifts not normally afforded on all of the family. This man was clearly well off, but his career as an actor would not necessarily be a stable one, and certainly not one that mixed well with Margot being a doctor.

Jack had taken the first opportunity to go for a walk with Dick, carefully fending off the younger children clamouring to go with them, and appealing to Joey to distract them all while he had a man-to-man chat with Dick.

Dick had been expecting something of the kind, and was willing go go along, get it over with. He knew that being the wife of an actor was not likely to be something that the Maynards would be that happy about, and the fact that he was cousin to Ge didn't really help either, even though she was now a firm part of the family. Dick didn't know the details, but he got the impression that her visit up to the Platz a few years before hadn't gone that well, and knowing his cousin's temper and tendancy to be insular, he wasn't greatly surprised.

He wasn't totally sure what the elder Maynards knew about the children Ge treated as being hers actually biologically being his, but went with the correct assumption, which was that secrets like that were hard to hide, and it was probably known throughout the family. He knew that if his daughter Josie was to suddenly take up with an apparently irresponsible man several years older than her, he would be doing the same as Jack, so steeled himself for some hard questions.

Jack walked in silence to begin with. He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to say, or find out. He knew that he wanted to express upon this man that he shouldn't stand in Margot's way, when she had got so far in her training, and also determine whether this man really understood his wayward daughter. The career part was the simpler of the concerns to bring up, so he started there.

Dick listened carefully and thought hard about how best to reply. The truth was that he wanted Margot to finish her course. She had got so near to the end, it seemed mad not to finish. She had needed this sabbatical, and it had been a good break for her, but she was fully capable of the work, and he had already been trying to convince her to return. However she was very negative about the, idea, referencing her aunt Daisy who had qualified, done well and then stopped work straight away upon her marriage. Margot didn't see the point of finishing, if she was likely to not be able to use the qualification anyway. She was enjoying the fun of being free from exams and papers, and able to see him at almost a moments notice, and she knew that that would have to change if she was to take the rest of her final year exams. He also suspected that she was keen on the idea of starting a family quite soon. He was nothing loathe, but more practical about things. A few months wait here or there would make no difference and at least she would then have the option of returning to her studies later if things didn't work out family wise. He was subtly trying to make sure that she completed the final exams in the summer, rather than rushing into things and dropping everything in her enthusiasm of their relationship becoming official. 

Dick understood her point, and was secretly pleased that she was clearly thinking that they might have a family quite soon. But he was very conscious of her youth, and of how much work she had done to get this far. It really wasn't much time in the grand scheme of things, and it would mean that she could always have the option of returning to a medically based career in the future if she wanted. If she stopped now, she would only have an unfinished degree, which was still worth something, but not as much as the completed course would be. He looked at Jack, trying to decide how much information her could share with Margot's father without risking upsetting her, or breaking a confidence.

He came to his decision, omitting the information about wanting a child soon, and confirming that he thought she should finish, in fact was encouraging her to do so.

"I want her to do it, sir, but you know Margot! She will do what she decides is best, and I can only say so much, otherwise I fear I will swing things the other way"

Jack considered the younger man, having a brief moment where he worked out that Dick wasn't really that many years younger than Joey, it seemed absurd to be being called Sir by him, but he understood the aim, to show respect to a father in law. The immediate admission that Dick wanted Margot to finish had thrown him off course, and he wasn't quite sure where he wanted to go next in the conversation. He had been expecting there to be resistance, maybe the assumption that she wouldn't need a career, so why not hurry the marriage along sooner. Reg had certainly been impatient of the course, and had put pressure on Margot to not prioritise it. Jack had been sure that this man, who wasn't even a doctor, would be even worse.

The speed of answer also suggested that there wasn't a baby on the way, which had been another niggling worry for Jack. He had wondered whether the pair were so keen to get married because of an indiscretion, and that would have meant that there would be no choice for Margot but to stop her course. However this sounded as though there was no imminent grandchild. Jack had a moment of slight sadness at this, for he would never admit it, but he missed having any babies around. He was of an age where he didn't want any more children of his own, even if it had been possible, but a grandchild would have been very welcome.

He mentally corrected himself. Another grandchild, he meant, after all he did have some, in a way, already. Once he had decided to accept Len's relationship with Ge, he had gone all the way, and mentally thought of Ge's twins as his step grandchildren, at very least. It was a different thing however, since he'd only known them the last few years, and didn't see them that often. Their similarity in age to his own first twins meant that he struggled with seeing them totally as grandchildren, but more like neice and nephew.

The path had come to a steep part, allowing for both men to drift in their own thoughts while they negotiated it. As he did so, Jack suddenly registered that the twins were of course this man's biological children. His head began to hurt, as he tried to work out just what relationship that would make them to him now, before realising that it would be just the same, they would be step grandchildren, just through two of his daughters rather than one. This fact didn't make his head hurt any less, for it seemed somehow indecent.

He wondered how Margot and Len felt about it all. The children clearly saw their little family unit with Len and Ge as being a complete one, and he had the impression that they had a slightly reserved relationship with their natural father. Would Margot's marriage and possible half brothers and sisters in the future affect that ? Jack could see from the way that the young man had answered his various questions, that he was thoughtful and cared for both his children and his fiance. He seemed the type that would be aware of the complications, and Jack decided that there was nothing that he could do to help. In an ideal world, his daughters wouldn't have ended up in a situation so complicated, but both pairs were clearly well suited and loved each other. In the end that was what mattered, and Jack could see no reason not to give his blessing to this marriage, despite his worries. 

After a few more questions as to his prospects and intentions, Jack fell silent for a while, and Dick was left hoping that he had made a good impression. As they walked he began to feel a little braver, and wondered whether he could ask some questions of his own. He was too loyal to Margot to discuss her with her sisters, or her mother, but he did wonder sometimes about her temper. She and he were matched well, for he was a natural peacemaker, although a cheeky one - when Margot took offence, he could usually calm her down. He felt that it worked well, they enjoyed debating, but managed to rarely feel it true arguing. However he knew that she had a streak in her that could be selfish, and he worried about the way that she seemed so often slightly at odds with the world. He didn't have that many relationships to compare to, and he worried on occasion that he was fooling himself in thinking that Margot really would marry him. Was he merely a way to rebel, be different to her family? It was a hard question to answer, and he certainly couldn't ask it outright of his future father in law.

He had wondered whether they were just a spiky, sensitive family, but Jack seemed a level headed man, and the general atmosphere in Freudesheim was positive and friendly. So perhaps it was just Margot's nature. If so then hopefully things would work well, as he was happy enough with the status quo, if she was. He tentatively restarted the conversation with a comment about how different the triplets were to each other - in personality as well as looks. Jack nodded acknowledgement.

"Len was always looking out for the other two, and Con was much quieter than her sisters," he said, picking his way as carefully around the topic as Dick was. "Margot... Margot has always been very much her own person..."

Dick nodded, thinking this quite an understatement. He loved Margot, but she did have some moments where, as she described it, 'her devil' seemed to descend. He wondered on occasion whether the temper was a family thing, for he had never seen Len or Con in a rage at all. Jack however couldn't be drawn any further, so Dick decided to move to safer topics. They chatted about Jack's work, and then Dick's next film project, and about how well the new school seemed to be doing.

All in all, it had been quite a companionable walk, and they returned almost friends, as much as any man can be with a semi stranger who is taking his daughter from him. Joey had already taken the measure of Dick, and could see that he suited Margot far better than Reg had, so was happy to see her husband now able to agree, and give his blessing. It had been an enjoyable christmas, and Dick had been made to feel very welcome, a lot more than he expected Margot to be when meeting his somewhat distant parents. He knew that his Aunt Fanny approved of her however, and George, Julian and Anne were all positive about things, so he wasn't worried about his side of the family. The only other important people were his children, and although they were more reserved around Margot than Len or Con, they had clearly reached a point of deciding that she was at least familiar, and unlikely to try to impact upon their lives too much.

With the reminder of John and Josie, and then the school, Dick was brought back to the present, and his current precious cargo, and glanced in the mirror the slumbering twins. He had been driving on a rough road, and wondered if they would wake, but they were still dead to the world, Felix now slightly snoring. Smiling, Dick glanced over to Margot to see that she too had fallen asleep, her mouth very slightly open as she dozed. He was filled with the wave of warmth that always came through him when he watched her sleep, and gently moved her hand back onto her own lap, so that he wouldn't wake her with any sudden need for gear changes. 

Christmas was over, and all of the various families had managed to get along. It was time for a new year to begin, and he was sure that it would be an exciting one, and one that he would be glad to be involved in. He didn't expect it to be a quiet one, for the combination of people would never be completely peaceful. But it would almost certainly be fun, and he looked forward to seeing how things went, and what surprises were in store for them all.

The little car sped on, back to the new term, back to The School of Adventure.


	6. Chapter 6

The staff room suddenly seemed a third the size it had over the holidays. Len and Ge had rarely visited the main school over that time, making the most of having the farmhouse mainly to themselves. Dinah and Tom, Nancy and Kathy and several others had been with family for a lot of the break, and most staff having the little flatlets had meant that the room had been fairly quiet for a few weeks.

Now, however, the noise of several returning teachers all chattering at once bounced around the room, broken by a lot of laughter and long rambling stories and family gossip sharing. Nancy grinned at Kathy, as she heard Lucy Ann teasing Tom about her first christmas visit to the Cunningham household. Dinah's mother had been very polite at Tom's well intentioned attempts helping with the cooking, but Tom's nerves had resulted in such strange tasting veg, that no one could really eat them all. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, there had been much feeding some of the results to various of Phillips current collection of animals, until Kiki objected with a peck at Jack's hand and highlighted just what everyone had been doing.

Good natured Tom had laughed an admitted that her talents lay elsewhere, which was proven by the cakes made for Boxing Day teatime. Several years at the Chalet School had made a good baker of her, and she had been able to concentrate far better without Kiki 'helping' this time. Somehow the more scientific nature of baking appealed to her, and she had been able to produce such a melt in the mouth collection of Swiss and Austrian dishes that she was told she had now created a new family tradition, and would have to at very least send cakes to all future Boxing Days.

Kathy grimaced back, once she checked that none of the others could see her. She knew why the story made Nancy laugh. They'd split the holidays between their families, and had intended upon a relaxing Christmas day at Kathy's aunt and uncle's. Unfortunately her aunt had sprained her ankle on Christmas eve, and the responsibility for the christmas meal had fallen to Kathy and Nancy. Used to no more responsibility than peeling the vegetables and washing up, the pair struggled to time things, judge quantities and keep cooked items warm enough to serve all together.

"You were no better than I was!" Kathy muttered, giving Nancy a surreptitious dig in the ribs to wipe the grin off her face. "I thought you would know far more, having been a pupil at the school. My high school had very little focus on home economics, I'll have you know !"

"No argument here," Nancy grinned back at her, not noticably squashed. "I didn't realise quite how long it had been since I had done any major cooking. Also you have to remember I only had a few terms at the Chalet, there wasn't really that much Frau Meiders could instil in me in that time! Cooking a christmas turkey certainly wasn't one of them!"

Kathy had to admit that it had shocked her quite how little she really knew herself about cooking. They succeeded in not poisoning everyone, but the combination of slightly cold veg and overdone turkey had certainly not been a success. Neither of them had had to make their own food for so many years that the basic skills they had had become extremely rusty. Kathy's aunt hadn't realised how little cooking her niece ever did, being fed in the school dining room all term, and joining friends and family most holidays. She'd very actively tried to keep out of the kitchen and leave Kathy and Nancy to it, so hadn't been able to steer them away from some of the pitfalls of a christmas meal.

As the room started to quieten and settle, the pair placed themselves in a visible set of chairs, and waited for the others to come to order. Everyone was interested to see what the term was likely to bring them, so before long the room was theirs. Nancy started first, welcoming the staff back, and getting general matters out of the way.

"We have decided that it would be worth having some extra home economics classes, beyond the basic 'Make a meal from pineapple, boiled eggs and tinned ham' work done in adventure skills." Nancy said, actively avoiding catching either Kathy or Tom's eye, after the recent conversations.

Everyone agreed, for this had been a planned change once the main lessons were established. None of the staff had felt confident enough to take on the home economics lessons individually, but over the christmas break enough of them had agreed to help out to make up a rota for weekly lessons in home economics.

As Nancy asked whether anyone had anything more to add relating to the timetable, Lucy Ann stood up, nervously stammering to begin with. This was an important topic however, and come from a discussion had in the holidays.

"Um... I think, um I wondered what the options were going to be for ... Um ... Hygeine lessons..." She said, with an agonised look at Mike, Dinah, Phillip and Jack, who had all been part of the original discussion at home. She, as the school's house mistress had drawn the short straw to put their concerns forward, despite her agitated objections that Dinah was the doctor, she ought to be the one.

"Hygeine?" said Nancy in confusion. "Cleaning and things? Surely that will be in the home economics we've already discussed?"

"No, um, I mean...er..." Lucy Ann's face was now as red as her hair. She rarely really noticed how many of the staff were female couples until now, when she was having to talk of things that she assumed few of them had had to consider. "It's... We were thinking that, as it's co-educational, well a bit more than the explanation that we all probably got at school would be... Would be good."

She drifted to a stop, and Dinah took pity on her. Lucy Ann was far less shy than she ever had been, but this was clearly a difficult subject for her.

"Lucy Ann is talking about something we were all a bit concerned about," she said, looking around at her brothers and brother in law. "The boys and girls are getting to an age where they might start being more interested in each other, in a..." She searched for the right word. Some of the chalet girls did seem to be quite innocent about a lot of things. "A 'romantic' way..."

Understanding dawned on the faces around them, and Nancy frowned. It was a valid point, but not one that she would have thought about spontaneously. She wasn't sure quite what to say. Help came from an unexpected quarter, as unknown to Lucy Ann and co, Ge, Dick and Julian had been discussing something very similar. Dick had been teased about his youthful believe that toothpaste would avoid conception, and they had talked about how little knowledge of things they had had as young adults.

"I agree. We ought to give the children some idea of things, otherwise they could well get in trouble later. The world is changing" Dick said, looking around the room. "This generation are already far less innocent about such things than we were. We need to give them at least an idea of the risks"

Penny Parker looked doubtful. Malory Towers hadn't had any official discussion of these things, although the Matrons had dealt with some issues described as "hygeine". She expressed her thoughts with her customary forthrightness.

"Surely their parents would deal with such issues? We aren't meant to be taking their place, making decisions for them about when their children are ready."

Ted spluttered, struck for a moment with the idea of her own estranged mother ever having such a conversation with her. Seeing the faces all turn to her, she decided that it was a valid point.

"Not all parents want to, or know how to have those conversations." She said slowly. "I know I didn't learn my understanding of things from my mother."

This was a cue for general chatter and laughter as the staff swopped stories of whether their parents could have such conversations, and the random ideas that they learnt from other students or older siblings.

Bringing things back on track, Nancy agreed that it seemed a good idea to have at least basic lessons on these things. She looked doubtful however when the issue of contraception came up.

"I don't know if we can do that, the parents would need to be asked, I think" she said. She was quite concerned with how forceful and determined Dick was that contraception be included. He was the main funder of the school after all, and she wasn't sure what she and Kathy could do if he insisted. She wanted to take his request into consideration, but had a lot of concerns about how the parents wouod react. 

She was thankful when Anton Biddle brought the issue of religion up. The quiet man rarely reminded them that he was a minister, but they remembered it now as he expressed his concern that discussion of contraception could imply that sex before marriage was acceptable. He understood the idea, but he couldn't support that himself, as he believed in chastity until after a wedding. He knew that the world was changing, but they had to be careful. For the catholics at least, even contraception within marriage was taboo. Few of the parents would be happy if the school 'promoted' such things, he finished.

Dick was clearly frustrated with this, as he had personal experience of the fact that teenagers don't always do what they are supposed to in these matters. Margot and he had struggled to convince Len about with the idea, as it contradicted her own religion, but as she had admitted to her sister, Margot and Reg hadn't waited, and many of their friends had risked pregnancy through poor understanding.

Margot decided to step in, and suggest a compromise.

"How about we have basic lessons on the ...the mechanics, and the risk of pregnancy, with emphasis on abstinence." She said carefully. "We could issue a notice to the parents that it will be covered at age 13 say. Then they can opt out for their child if they prefer them not to be included. Then also give an options in the same notice for them to opt IN for an extra class for say the 15 year olds on methods of pregnancy control."

This wasn't quite the full explanation for all students that Dick had wanted, but as she said to him later, they had to be careful. The unconventional nature of so many of the staff relationships were always going to risk suggestions that they were a bad influence on the children, and to deviate too greatly from the normal school policies on these matters would only risk upsetting the more conventional parents. For all that they wanted to be a new, innovative school, some changes had to be made gradually. From the discussions in the staff room, sex education wasn't widely done in school at all, a fact she hadn't been sure about. She knew that the Chalet School tended to be a little dated in some ways, so had initially assumed that it was normal practice to educate young adults in the facts of life. The reactions today had shown her that it wasn't as simple a suggestion as they had first thought.

The final decision would be made by the Kirren/Maynard families and the two Heads, but it had been a useful discussion, and she saw that pushing too strongly at this stage would only make things more difficult, so pressed Dick's hand to send the message to leave it for now, and he took the hint, frustrated as he was to not have complete support for the idea.

Nancy waited to see whether there were any more suggestions, then passed over to her co-head for the second half of the notices. Kathy stood, as her height meant that she couldn't see the whole room properly otherwise. This next announcement was going to be a big one, and she and Nancy wanted to be able to see everyone's reactions.

"Now we come to the main event of this term. We've been approached by the exam board, and in order to be allowed to provide an exam centre once the children are old enough, we have to pass an inspection. This had been expected to be next year, since none of our original pupils were over 14, however now that we have the slightly older girls from the closed school we need to be ready a bit sooner if possible."

The staff all began to exclaim and chatter, for this really was news. Kathy noticed that Con looked very worried, which they had expected. Con struggled with concentrating on the work, and with her confidence, although she was still a good teacher. More surprisingly, Tom was frowning and looking down, ignoring the chattering around her. Kathy gave Nancy a glance, and they passed a message to each other to check later. For now, they needed to get on with the meeting.

"The board have made it clear that to be registered in time for the eldest girls to take their exams, they will need to make a 2 day visit in the middle of this term." Kathy continued

Nell looked thoughtful, and raised her hand, waiting for a nod from Kathy to speak.

"What does this actually mean? I don't know this exam board, but for the one we went with in Switzerland, they simply wanted to see that we had systems for an exam hall, and independent invigilators. That didn't take 2 days, have they given any idea what they are looking for?"

Kathy looked at Nancy, wishing that Nell wasn't quite so on the spot. They had hoped to gradually bring in the next fact.

"They've also said that the education department have asked for a more intense check than the standard. They want to see all of our arrangements, and shadow the teachers for a day. It's probably just new regulations, or perhaps curiosity. We are doing something fairly different here, after all. We aren't worried, and neither should you be"

As Nancy and Kathy each added a final 'welcome back to the school' speech, the group sensed correctly that the meeting was at an end, and broke back down into smaller groups. The Heads gave each other a look, and made their excuses as soon as they could. They had a lot to talk about, what with Dick's obvious intention to have more than just an arm's length involvement in the school, and the concerns about the inspection. They hadn't seen any benefit in worrying the staff too much, but they knew that Len and Ge were very concerned about the reasons for the visit.

Subtle questioning of Penny Parker and Madge had revealed that Malory Towers and the Carnbach branch of the Chalet had never had a two day inspection of this kind. There had been general checks on the schools from time to time, mostly for inclusion in various lists of recommended private schools. Something like this this involving the exam board seemed to be very unusual. Nancy and Kathy weren't worried about passing the academic side, or the setting up of an exam centre, but the instance on looking at the school procedures and staffing in such detail seemed a strange request for a private venture such as this.

They had been back in their study for an hour before there was a knock on their door. Nancy opened it to a very serious looking Tom Gay.

"Have you a moment? I need to talk to you both." Tom asked.

"Of course." Nancy replied, ushering her in, raising her eyebrows at Kathy behind Tom's back at this unexpected visit. "Sit down, would you like some tea or coffee?"

Tom shook her head, clearly struggling with something. Kathy frowned. Tom was a good teacher, one of the more successful with the young adventurer students in fact. She had no reason to be worried about an inspection, and she had seemed perfectly happy and relaxed in the meeting until the announcement, so it had to be that. What was she so worried about?

Tom got herself under control, and looked at the pair, such good friends now. She had been so happy here at the school, but there was nothing for it, she couldn't in good conscience carry on under the circumstances. She swallowed, and cleared her throat, looking back down at her feet. Her next words were so mumbled that they had to asked her to repeat them, sure they must have misheard. But unfortunately they hadn't.

"I need to give in my resignation."


	7. Chapter 7

Nancy and Kathy looked at each other, neither quite sure where to start. Nancy knew Tom better, so decided that it was up to her.

"We'll respect that if you feel you have to, Tom, but we do need to know why. Is it maybe something we can help with?"

Tom knew she'd have to give more detail, but it was hard to know where to start. She had been out for walk before coming to the study, trying to work out what was best to do, and the room was hot after the bitter cold outside, making it even harder to concentrate. She was tempted to just insist on resigning, refuse to explain.

The problem was that she wasn't sure whether it was too late anyway, whether her resignation would do any good. She frowned and looked down. She wasn't a naturally talkative person, so struggled to find the words to get the information across. Especially as she was closer to tears than she had been for years. The school had started to become a real home to her, and she had been able to relax about her personal life much more than she ever had, being in such a supportive and understanding environment. The shame of being forced to resign from her job with the Boys Club had cut her to the core, as had being rejected from her church, for being honest about her personal life.

Tom's faith was strong and she had come to terms with the apparent conflict with her attraction towards women, although it had taken a lot of soul searching. She didn't expect approval, but she hadn't realised just how big an issue this was for many people. Her honesty had caused her the loss of her previous life, and now she looked likely to lose her second chance. The only thing she felt she could do was not take the school or any of the others down with her. She'd been silent for an unbearable amount of time, trying to formulate her thoughts, and Kathy was tempted to speak. Nancy stopped her with a hand on her arm, seeing that Tom was nearly ready.

"It's this inspection... I... Phillip...He didn't realise, it really was just an awkward coincidence," was the first somewhat incomprehensible statement. She got herself a bit more together and tried to start more at the beginning.

"It was over the christmas holidays. Phillip has a new job, they want him to present a television series about animals, you see."

Nancy and Kathy looked at each other, unsure for a moment who she was talking about, before remembering Phillip Mannering, Dinah's brother. Clearly something had happened while Tom was visiting her partner's family. They had to just hope that exactly what had happened would become clearer, since Tom was not making a lot of sense at present.

Tom continued.

"He was proud of it, and wanted to celebrate. It's a big thing, they're planning on looking at animals in a way no one has ever done before. He would present a series, and help people to understand animals and their needs better."

They could see Phillip doing very well in that role, neither of them had ever known anyone as attuned to animals as Dinah's brother. He just seemed to attract them to him, and they became as tame as trained animals the moment he talked to them. His voice would be a great asset on television, as it had a similar effect on human, giving a sense of calm and security. He had been a radio star for some time, and this was a natural progression, as television was becoming more and more popular with each passing year. However, it still didn't explain Tom's despair, and she didn't seem to be getting any nearer to the point at all.

"He brought some of them back to the house just before New Year. I think he wanted them to get to know Jack, maybe see whether they would do a bird program. Jack wasn't interested though, he's perfectly happy pottering around all those little islands with his sea birds. He barely gave them more than a polite hello, then he was off to meet Kester Bellever to plan their expedition next year."

Kathy was almost wanting to shake Tom. All these family details were interesting, but they really didn't seem to have any connection to the school, or Tom's resignation. The younger woman seemed to have finally realised that they were a bit bemused, for she seemed almost to shake herself and get to the point.

"Anyway. I realised as soon as I saw him that one of the TV people was a member of my old church. Or more relevantly, his wife was there, and she was one of the very active members of the committees we dealt with with the Boys club."

Nancy and Kathy started to get a sense of where this was going. They had a sense of dread as the story unfolded. For many years they had lived their own lives having to hide their lifestyle for fear of being forced out of the school that had become their home. They understood how cruel people can be when they feel righteously angry, and how evil that type of person could consider sinners like themselves to be. Their biggest fear was that they had put their careers in jeopardy by getting involved with a venture with so many female couples, and that their own semi secret situation would be made public and condemned.

"She recognised me, and her face ... It went almost ... ugly with the strength of her disapproval, as if I was a slug in her way. I could cope with that, I didn't have to see her after that afternoon after all, though you know how it feels."

They nodded, having had similar experiences themselves. People so rarely seemed to be able to just live and let live with something like this, it seemed to offend them too deeply. They were lucky enough to not be too obvious a couple, but they both had friends like Tom, who were much more obviously 'deviant' due to their manner and appearance, and just couldn't hide, however much they tried.

"It would have been fine, but Phillip... Well he just doesn't pick up some of these things, you know. He's amazing with animals, but people... Well he seems to feel they ought to feel as he does, that Dinah's lifestyle is nothing to do with who she is."

Tom was wandering again, but they let her talk, knowing that she would get to the point eventually. They had some idea of what was to come, and could only hope that she was wrong in her concerns, that the inspection had nothing to do with this woman. In this hope however they were to be disappointed.

"The woman was discussing her family connection to the area, explaining why they had moved here quite recently. She mentioned the closed school, you see her brother is part of the local education authorities... I'm not sure but I think it's connected to the exam board..."

They could tell what was coming, and Tom's faltering explanations confirmed their worries. Phillip had been well meaning, intending only to help promote the school. He'd proudly discussed the emphasis on life skills as well as academic ones, and the fact that the closed school had merged with the young adventurers so well. This would have been fine in itself, only he spied Tom trying to hide as much as she could and avoid joining in the conversation. He'd mentioned Tom being a live in mistress there, and been careless with the fact that Dinah lived in the school with Tom.

Tom paused at this point. She had seen the woman's face go through shock, horror and then look focused and determined. The meaning of the look hadn't been clear at all, for Tom had no real idea about how the educational system worked, and the importance of being able to have an exam centre. She'd been glad to get away from the frosty atmosphere, and had simply decided to keep out of the way in future if the TV people were likely to be about. It wasn't until the staff meeting and the sudden announcement of the exam board visit that the horrible truth had dawned on Tom. She knew that this woman had been among those who considered someone like Tom working with children to be totally unacceptable. Not for the first time, Tom wished that she had avoided the question, lied to protect herself when the issue had come up in her previous vocation.

Nancy and Kathy were silent for so long after Tom finished that she wondered whether she should leave, let them talk between the pair of them. She got up, awkwardly twisting her scarf in her hands, and began to say a halting goodbye. Almost as if this woke them up, Nancy and Kathy spoke at once, telling her that there would be no way that they would accept her resignation.

"But without me here, she won't think there is anything to investigate." Tom said, sure that it was as simple as that. "I'll just go, soon as you can get a replacement.. there will be something else I can do."

Nancy shook her head. "No Tom. This type of situation was bound to arise. We need to be prepared, and whether you are here or not makes no difference... Except that we would be without a very able teacher, and would all miss you. No, it's not that simple."

Kathy put her own thoughts into the discussion. "We already have the visit booked, and at least we know now why they are looking at us in such detail. Forewarned is forearmed. In the end, we are better to face this possibility of exposure now than later, when much more would be at stake. No, we all knew that there would be gossip and we might face scrutiny at some stage, that is why such care has been taken with the staff quarters being separate from the school, and the two bedroom flatlet arrangement used."

Nancy nodded, looking grim. "Now we know that they will be looking for any sign of our kind of relationships, we can prepare better. We'll talk to the relevant staff members, make it clear that the flats must be less obviously a bedroom and sitting room arrangement, if just for this term. I hate to have to hide, but the world isn't ready yet for openly gay teachers, especially in a boarding school. We have to be more careful."

Tom tried again to resign, but they wouldn't hear of it. She may have been the catalyst, the reason that attention had been called upon the school, but it could just as easily have been any of them. They had all become too relaxed, and this was a good wake up call to the fact that outside these walls their lifestyle was still considered deviant and unacceptable to many. This little haven was worth protecting, and much as it went against the nature of many of them, who prided themselves on honesty in action as well as deeds, they had to present a more traditional front until the attention had moved away from them.

For Tom's sake, Nancy and Kathy didn't give the rest of the staff any explanation of how they knew, but they managed to unofficially spread the fact that they suspected ignorance and prejudice to be involved in the extra levels of exam board visit. All of the gay staff understood immediately, and realised that it was in their own interests to be more careful about being couples. Living rooms returned to being less obviously so, and the little details that showed two people lived in the bedroom were hidden better. It hurt, to have to have the deception, but there was a lot at stake, and a term of being more careful was worth it, to allow the school to continue to be the haven it had already proved to be to so many of them.

Even Ted made a conscious effort to wear skirts at least occasionally, for she knew that when she wore a skirt or dress after a long time in trousers, she strode as if still wearing them, so it did no harm to practice. She noticed with a level of sadness that she had better behaviour from some of the girls from the closed school when dressed that way. Some of them had struggled to get past her appearance and give her respect, but something in her looking more like a traditional school mistress obviously made a difference to them.

All in all, it was a sad thing to have to do, hide their true situations better, but it was still so much more freedom to be themselves than any of them could get in teaching posts elsewhere, it was worth the compromise. They were all determined to give the exam board no reason to refuse them a centre, and no reason to report any issues with the care of the children. They might well still have issue with the thoroughly unconventional teaching methods, but that was less of a concern. As long as the parents were happy, the students healthy and learning well, the adventure skills and less than typical teaching methods would be able to continue.


	8. Chapter 8

The new term had begun, and the staff had to put their worries about the intended inspection to one side in the battle to remind the Young Adventurers that they were at school, and as such expected to WORK. 

"It's a nightmare!" Nancy exploded one evening to Kathy as they struggled through reports of bad behaviour, undone work and discipline issues. "Any gains we made in their attention spans by end of the last term seem to have disappeared ! If anything they are WORSE than last term!"

Kathy nodded, trying to rub away a headache beginning just above her eye. "Tell me about it! Any common sense they seem to have had has been undone by weeks of christmas celebrations - and what seem to be obligatory holiday time adventures most of them have!" 

Nancy groaned. "Don't talk to me about adventures! What on earth it is that causes so many I will never know!" 

Initially the pupils were allowed a lot of freedom and time to settle down. Many of the staff were understanding, after all some of them had been magnets for adventures themselves, and knew what it felt like to try to come down to the speed and level of normal school life after adrenaline filled life and death situations. 

The fact that most of the elder students were just entering their early teens didn't help, as even those with normally relaxed temperaments were inclined to be snappy and moodier than normal

As Len said to Con in exasperation, it was as if all of a sudden someone had emptied a pot of hormones on the school, and stirred it up with a big spoonful of melodrama ! 

The students often weren't intending to be difficult, but even the best of them seemed to be more careless, and need more supervision than normal, which was tiring for all concerned. 

"I'm just surprised that we didn't have these issues last term." Julian Kirren said to his cousin Ge as they repaired a broken trampoline one evening. 

Ge mumbled something and asked for an adjustable spanner. Julian frowned and handed over something he hoped would work. Ge sighed and did the best she could with the wrong sized wrench, it was easier than trying to explain. 

She was less surprised, as she had been around the students far more in the early days of the previous term than he had. To begin with everyone had been excited by the new school, so the effect of holiday drama hadn't been as great. 

"The problem is they are all used to being the person with the most unbelievable holiday story." She replied eventually, once the springs had all been reattached and the frame supported tightened. "They're all feeling confused not to get as much attention as normal." 

This was certainly true. Most of the young adventurers were used to a certain level fame in their past schools. It was a strange position for many of them, to come back and be just one of many similar voices. 

"I can't really blame them!" Said Julian with a grin. "I don't know how well I would have liked this set-up at their age really. You come back to school with a story of catching criminals or stopping a freight train crash, only to take second place in excitement to someone else bringing down a counterfeiting ring or Prince Llony nearly being kidnapped yet again!"

This was certainly part of the issue. An air of competition began to cause stories to be slightly exaggerated. The non adventurous students started to disbelieve even the true stories, when the same stories were told differently by different people. 

Fights over silly details began to cause slight splits in previously amicable friendship groups. Even the most frequent adventurers among the staff struggled to know quite how to handle this. They understood how it felt to have been buzzing with adrenaline during an adventure, then crash once life went back to normal, but the competition and jealousy was quite a new thing. They had themselves almost always been the only people who had adventurers worth discussing at their own schools. So they had either had admiring audiences or people trying to put them in their place and make sure they didn't let their fame go to their heads. 

All the staff could do was try to keep the students as occupied as possible, and hope that the little spats and occasional tantrums would die out as the term began properly. Unfortunately the atmosphere seemed to amplify the energy of most of the students, and the staff were soon tearing their hair out over attention spans that would disgrace a 6 year old. 

The worst of the issues came at the end of the day. In the relatively warm autumn term the students had been provided with enough mental and physical exercise to usually wear them out quite well. This wet and cold spring term however meant they were often cooped up inside a lot more. 

The academic staff were so worried about the inspection that they also forgot how much the students needed to let off steam, and reverted to some of the more traditional methods of teaching. As yet this hadn't been too much of a problem, since it was a new enough term for the students to remain controlled during the school day. But in their free time it was another matter. 

As Con said nervously to Ted at the end of the second week, 

"They're like a collection of trapped springs in there, waiting to explode in all directions." 

Ted knew just what she meant, having just left the boarding house after supervising prep.

"Middles are always bad, but these seem to be a thousand times worse. It isn't a matter of IF there will be fireworks or someone getting hurt, it's just when - who - and what!"


	9. Chapter 9

Mike and Lucy Ann Arnold were well suited to their jobs as House Mistress and Master. They were used to adventurous youth and their own children had always had huge amounts of energy. 

However this term even they were struggling. They seemed to spend half the night dealing with students delaying going to bed; jokes being played and some of the smaller ones in tears over simple things, simply because they were so tired from all the disturbed nights. 

The older students didn't intend to bully, but they weren't always that patient. Used to being included by their older siblings when at home, it was hard for the 7 to 9 year olds to be ignored or told to go away. In previous schools it hadn't been an issue, for they would be at different branches of a school, or the youngest ones had been at home. 

It didn't help that even the oldest in the school were those considered 'middles' normally. So there was only so much responsibility they could be given. 

In the previous term the excitement of the new experiences had managed to contain much of the natural mischief. Now that this was just 'school' and routine enough to be boring on occasion, that grace period was over.

Even this early in the term the staff had cause to realise just how much help older prefects were to the day to day discipline and smooth running. 

The previous term the younger staff had ended up automatically reverting to the prefect roles. This was just not sustainable as the work load as teachers increased with the preparation for the inspection. Something would have to change - but what?

As the weeks went on, the atmosphere in the school bubbled and occasionally boiled, but never quite reached a happy level. Lucy Ann and Mike had the brunt of the issues, as house mistress and master, and they had good help from the Ranni and Pilescu, who had returned as Prince Llony's bodyguards. 

However by the third week of term every member of staff was close to despair. The mixed age groups just weren't working any more as the older ones began puberty and were less reliable in mood and less interested in the same things as before. 

"How on earth did they ALL suddenly begin growing pains at once?" 

Mike grumbled one evening as he finally climbed into bed. It had been a busy evening dealing with spats and refusals to settle down and sleep properly.

"They probably haven't, it just feels like it because we're so tired." Lucy Ann replied. "After all several of them are still under 10, we can't blame everything on hormones!" 

"Nell Wilson always says it's always like this in spring term, she blames the Fohn" he said, closing his eyes and stretching out; though still with one slight ear open for any signs of disturbance from the dormitories. 

"Surely that doesn't come to England?" 

"Don't ask me ! She says it was a nightmare, all the girls at the Chalet School cooped up in the snow and out of sorts because of the weather. We aren't quite as bad here, but the rain recently hasn't helped." 

"If it's that then at least there will be some end to it eventually." Lucy Ann replied. "I don't think it is though." 

She looked thoughtful. "It's the way everything is set up here."

"How so?" 

"All being mixed together. It doesn't work. The younger ones get overtired and need more rest, but because of the dormitories also being where prep is done, they can't be sent to bed an hour earlier for a bit which I'm sure would held. Equally the youngsters tend to be up and about making noise long before the 'middles' are in the morning and it causes arguments."

Mike grinned. 

"Especially when you get some of them who like their beds a lot in the mornings ! One of the Russell twins - can't remember if it's Kevin or Kester - was so annoyed about being woken up he quite seriously asked me if the junior boys could go and sleep with the girls !"

"Ha! What on earth ? Why did he think the girls would accept the younger ones any more than the boys?" 

"Oh some theory about girls liking to get up early anyway, though I don't think he really cared much if the girls agreed or not, he just wanted the juniors away from him till at least 7.45!" 

"Well he'll have to look for another solution. I can't see the older girls being too keen on suddenly having boys mixed in with them, even if they do have separate cubicles. There isn't room really either." 

"Would it help to have the younger ones all at one end maybe?" 

"Hmmm, I doubt it, you know how much noise they can all make. It really wouldn't make a lot of difference."

"Are the girls as bad?" 

"Oh just as much, if not more!" Said Lucy Ann with feeling. "They never stop talking! You know how Maggie can be like in the morning, now multiply that by 10! I honestly never thought I would think of her as relatively calm and quiet!"

Mike did know. Their daughter Maggie was blessed with a very even temperament, but complete lack of ability to stop chattering even with no response. He had sometimes gone into a room after hearing her talking, only to find her having a long and detailed conversation with her dolls and stuffed animals. 

"The older ones are as bad, but in the evening this time." Lucy Ann, continued. "I have problems with them talking after lights out, disturbing the small ones, then the younger ones chattering in the early morning when the others need to sleep." 

Mike and Lucy Ann discussed the matter for hours trying to find a solution, but there just wasn't an answer within the current system. 

They knew that they ought to go to Nancy and Kathy, but they still struggled to feel quite as at home with the headmistresses as they did with Len and Ge. They'd been friends with Ge for so many years that this wasn't surprising, but they were very conscious that they had to be careful not to seem to be trying to bypass Nancy and Kathy. 

Eventually, they decided that an informal chat might be the best start, to help them work out whether the owners of the school were open to changes first, and whether a solution was even possible. 

Arranging for Ted and Con to cover the boarding house responsibilities for the night, they asked Len and Ge to come out with them, supposedly to meet up with Lucy Ann's family. That way no one else would expect to come along too. 

Jack, Phillip and Dinah had some idea of the problems already, would be able to help and could all be trusted to keep a secret if Len and Ge felt it might cause problems with school politics. Dinah's partner Tom Gay was equally trustworthy, and she wouldn't interfere with the discussion, might even help it, as she knew the Chalet staff better..


	10. Chapter 10

Lucy Ann, Mike and Len had finished early evening chores and were looking forward to their evening out. They chatted idly and waited in the car while Ge finished her last checks of the gates and doors. 

It was rare that Ge left the premises now in the evening, and the day was always full of farmwork, so she was looking forward to an evening away. Len had been looking very pale recently, with the worry about the inspection. It didn't help having the extra workload from marking all the returned prep and trying to work out new lesson plans to keep the students interested. It would do her good having some time away with adults, even if Ge suspected that it was a school issue their friends wanted so mysteriously to discuss. 

She finally finished her checks, and joined the others. In the time she'd been away the car had been surrounded by their various relatives among the students, curious to know what they were doing and where they were all going. Josie particularly was persistent, and having had no joy with the others, she tried to get Ge to answer instead. 

"Where're you going, can we come too?" 

"Running away together to the Island." Ge said, as she slipped into the drivers seat. "And no, nosy girl, you can't."

Josie stuck her tongue out at her, before remembering that she was technically at school and these were staff. Ge had forgotten too and grimaced back with a will however so she got away with it this time. 

"No you aren't, you can't get there in a car." Ge's little neice Rosie, quite seriously. "Where are you going really.?" 

"Out!" Said Lucy Ann and and Len both at the same time, before laughing and intriguing their young relatives even more. 

"We are going to spend some time being people instead of parents." Lucy Ann said, grinning at her own children, who had joined the throng and were looking slightly worried. "We need a night off just as much as anyone does, and you will just have to do without us till tomorrow."

The older children grinned, but some of the younger ones looked most confused at the idea that parents or teachers might need time off. 

"Come on now, move away from the car." Said Len, as Ge started the engine. "We'll be back later, but probably you'll all be asleep, so sweet dreams and see you tomorrow!" 

The gaggle of students stepped back, and gossiped among themselves, wondering if there was an adventure afoot. 

"Do you think they'll be ok?" Said Maggie, as she lost sight of the car at the turn of the drive. 

"They'll be fine, I just want to know what they are hiding from us!" Replied Rosie with a frown. "The last time Aunt Ge and Len went away was when...er... Um ..."

She slowed as she realised the remainder of her sentence was "when Josie was kidnapped and they went to look for her" 

None of the children wanted to be reminded of that time, as aside from the worry about Josie, it had led to a split in their little friendship group, with the Kirren twins at the centre of the split. Thankfully for Rosie her brother Sam was quick enough to change the subject and neither John or Josie realised in their own distraction at this unusual event. 

"I bet they've started an adventure!" Said Sam Seymour, and the little group was nicely distracted in wondering what it was. 

"I'm not so sure" mused his brother. "I don't think the grown ups have adventures any more unless we are there to start them."

They all nodded. 

"Though they are jolly useful when they do." Rosie Seymour replied. "Even mum surprised me last time, she seemed to just start automatically making beds out of heather, working out where the fresh water was and how we would get food."

"Well mum said she always used to do that on their adventures." Said Gerry who liked to hear the stories about his family. "Bit like you do, Sam on ours." 

Sam coloured, wishing his brother thought a bit more before he spoke.

It was true, Anne's son had inherited her liking for everything to be ordered and organised, and on their adventures Sam did tend to make their beds up and keep the place in order. His sister Rosie was too much of a scatterbrain, and an adventure was much nicer if they could sleep safely and eat well. 

Gerry really hadn't intended any disparagement, he was glad Sam looked after them all so well. 

However, recent comparisons of adventures had made Sam realise that it was usually the girls who did that sort of "home making". Up until now, he'd just thought of it as making a den, and his empty stomach on early adventures had been his reason for learning to cook. He hadn't felt ashamed of it, but somehow here at school he minded what people thought. Especially, he admitted to himself, some of the girls in his class, who were part of the little group. 

"You are funny!" Said a girl called Janet, originally from the sport-mad school. "My parents go out quite often, it's unusual that they are at home in the evening!" 

Several of the others agreed, and there was a bit of teasing about letting the grown ups be grown ups. Faced by this the Kirrens and Arnold children looked less worried, but couldn't help being irritated by the comments. 

"You don't understand!" Said Josie fiercely. "Your parents are, well, ordinary people. Aunt Ge and Aunt Len aren't. Nor are Mike and Lucy A... Mr and Mrs Arnold. Something might happen and we aren't there to deal with it." 

Ted Grantley was at the door of the school, about to step outside to remind them it was nearly time for dinner and caught this last set of comments. She stifled a snort of laughter at how seriously the children were taking a simple night out for the adults in their lives, and moved towards them to distract. However the next reply made her set her mouth in a thin line and frown. 

Stung by the 'ordinary people' Janet had replied in a much harsher way than she would otherwise have done. 

"Well maybe they ARE ordinary, but at least I HAVE a mother and a father. You have two aunts, they aren't even real parents." 

Those around her backed away, apart from one or two of her closest friends. This was going too far, and the young adventurers were sure to take it personally. Also many of the girls liked Miss Maynard and Ge Kirren, whatever they might suspect and sometimes giggle about together about their lifestyles. 

"Chat time over. All of you, in to dinner, now" Ted barked, stepping out hurriedly from the doorway and into the middle of the group. 

Josie and John were used to nasty comments from their previous school and all the bullying there, so beyond a furious look, they left the matter. Gerry had a bit more understanding and saw that it was just someone hitting out after Josie's thoughtless 'ordinary people' comment. 

But Felix, Felicity and their younger cousins and friends were looking like thunder. The girls who had been teasing looked quite upset too, and embarrassed when Miss Grantley suddenly appeared and seemed to have heard what had been said.

Unsure how else to handle things, Ted swiftly directed them all inside, and kept them all busy until bedtime, suggesting some country dancing and hoping that a good exercise might dissolve some of the tension between the groups.


	11. Chapter 11

Nell Wilson watched the car drive off from an upstairs window. She was glad Len had been convinced to take a night off. She suspected that there were more problems ahead, and Len would probably take far more of it on board than she should. Nell occasionally wished it was possible to change her goddaughter's nature, for her own good, but knew it would never happen. 

"Are you coming, Nell?"

Charlie Mackensie was looking back at her with a quizzical expression, wondering what had caused the stop and pensive expression. 

"On my way."

Nell caught up, and just stopped herself from linking arms as they made their way to Nancy and Kathy's office. The Heads had suggested they and Miss Peters came over for tea and cakes, and Nell suspected that they had something to discuss. She had a shrewd idea what that was, since it was an issue that had been concerning all of the older staff for a while. 

It wouldn't be coincidence they'd chosen this time while Ge and Len were away. Now the first misunderstanding with Len was over, Nancy and Kathy knew that Len wasn't actively trying to take charge. However they still deliberately tried not to get her involved, for her own benefit. Len had had a really stressful few years, and was struggling to slow down. Being the responsible one was so ingrained in her that she tried to solve everything herself, when really she needed to focus just on herself for a while. 

A quick knock, answered with a 'Herein" and they were seated on the comfy chairs by the fire. Cups of coffee were made as they waited for Penny Peters, then once she arrived the cake tin was opened and the little group munched peacefully for a short time, idle chit chat about the day shared between mouthfuls. 

Finally when everyone had finished, Nancy glanced at Kathy and began, slightly hesitantly.

"We have some concerns, and we wanted to see what you all felt could be done." 

It really was hard for her to assume a leadership role when Nell was around, after so many years. It wasn't in Nancy's nature to play power games, but she always had a slight worry that she should be doing so. She could cope with most of the staff but always felt it would be easy to strike the wrong balance with Nell. Either be too bossy, or rely on her too much. This situation felt like the latter, but both she and Kathy really weren't sure what the best course of action would be. They needed help and advice, and the three older women were full of common sense. Hopefully they would be able to help. 

Nancy continued, getting more fluent as she warmed to the subject. 

"As you all know, this inspection is coming up, some time later this term. We've asked you here today to try to work out how we avoid any more conflict than we really need. We will have a complicated enough time explaining our less than conventional approach to the curriculum." 

Nell frowned "Do you think so? The parents all know we aren't a typical school and have chosen to send their children anyway. We are no more unconventional than a lot of places with experimental approaches to learning, and they have exam centres."

"We are confident in the end the exam centre shouldn't be validly refused. We are also happy that it will be possible to enter a lot of the children for exams eventually, however unusual a route they take to get everything learnt." Nancy replied. 

They all nodded. None of them had worked in this way before, but they could see that the adventure skills and more interactive approach worked for these children. The school was never going to top results tables academically - after all it was designed for those who were already struggling in the standard system. 

Their own measure of performance would be the improvement in the individual children. More than one set of parents had already sent letters thanking them for the change in their child, having given up hope of ever getting a reasonable school report. Even more had expressed gratitude that their offspring were happy, calmer and much more willing to go back to school than ever before. 

"However we are worried that the inspection isn't going to be done fairly, and is in fact a way of checking us as a staff, rather than our facilities." Nancy said.

The group looked serious, and she could tell that they had all been thinking the same thing. 

"We love the freedom we have to be - well, ourselves here. And going forward that needs to be protected. But if the authorities decide we aren't suitable to look after children, that means serious consequences not just for the school, but for each of us continuing to teach." 

Kathy took over at this point. 

"The flatlets are now looking much less obviously like couples live there, and we would hope that all the staff will remember to behave in a careful way around the inspectors. Our concern is that that may not be enough. The students will be interviewed about the school, and while the normal situation would be that conversation just being confined to academic matters, we suspect from Tom's warning that more probing questions might be asked." 

"Do you think that will matter?" Asked Charlie. "The staff have always been careful around the students in school time. The children that are relatives of the staff couples already know they have to be discrete when talking to outside people." 

"I'm not so worried about them," replied Kathy. "It's the other children who aren't so cautious that could be an issue. Too many innocent comments showing they are seeing unconventional relationships around them could well be enough for the exam board to find a reason to fail us. Sadly there are still many people who fear the unknown, and too much attention would make things difficult for the school. Unfortunately this term, despite the warnings, the staff have started to slip a bit, show affection more openly than is quite prudent." 

Nell nodded. She had noticed the same, even found herself slipping into careless habits. Over the Christmas holidays the staff had been able to freely be themselves in a way that many of them couldn't even when with family. It had been hard to remember to stop things like an affectionate kiss on the cheek on greeting, or holding hands while walking. 

"I think all of us here know how to hide, we have years of experience in less open staff environments" said Nancy. "However some of the younger ones aren't so used to keeping up a front and aren't taking the need for discretion seriously."

Kathy gave an example. "Irene and Belinda for one pair. They do tend to wander hand in hand in the grounds, or lie together in the hammock, forgetting that the students can see. Or perhaps not thinking it important."

Penny Peters had stayed quiet, but felt a need to defend her former pupils. "They aren't deliberately doing that - if you knew that pair you'd understand, they're both as scatterbrained as each other."

"Even so, last term they were much more careful. I wasn't even totally sure myself for a while whether they were a couple or just close friends." Replied Nancy. "They managed then, really they need to do so now, however scatterbrained they are."

"Trust me, they are a couple !" Replied Penny Peters with a sudden grin. "It was a nightmare when they first registered they wanted more than friendship. They were in the sixth at Malory Towers and sharing a study, so had a lot of freedom and privacy not normally available. The times one or both of them turned up with various items of clothing back to front or inside out! Luckily their reputation for managing to forget things meant most of the less aware staff didn't register that they had in fact started the day properly dressed!" 

"Well thankfully they seem to have got past that stage at least!" Said Kathy. "It's frustrating, since really such innocent things as this would pass below the radar of most people, women walk hand in hand all the time, even greet enough other with a peck on the cheek and it means nothing. But the inspectors have clearly been warned about Tom Gay being 'a deviant' - as that charming woman described it. They will be on the look out for connections within the staff. So at least for this term we really do need to get the junior staff to understand the importance of hiding."

Charlie looked doubtful. "Do you really think they will be willing to ? After all, wasn't the reason many of them joined the school a desire to be more able to be themselves?"

"They've always known there are limits to that." Said Kathy. "The staff room and staff accommodation was designed very carefully to allow privacy and space to be more relaxed. That doesn't need to change. It's just realising that school children are really quite observant and acting accordingly. I have to admit it's hard to remember sometimes. We all were able to relax during Christmas with only the staff's children about." 

"It's not that we're expecting any argument from the staff really." Nancy tried to explain. "However we realise that they are under a lot of strain at the moment. The student concentration levels are appalling, and we are getting far too many discipline issues given that we have relatively relaxed rules in the first place. That is another issue we need to address, but a debate for another time."

"What do you want us to do? Have a quiet word with some of them?" Asked Penny. 

She doubted that Irene would pay much attention, but perhaps could try a word with Belinda, who had always been the slightly more worldly of the two. 

"Perhaps, if you think it appropriate." Kathy answered. "But what we are most worried about is that they aren't always aware of the things they are doing. We all know the type of thing that can be read by those looking for signs. After all we do have a very young staff. Young girls of all types can get away with closeness and affection in public in a way that just won't work now that they are older and in positions of responsibility. They all seem to have no idea how they appear to other people, or even seem to think that it is important."

Privately Nell disagreed with this sweeping statement. It was very much dependent on the body type and natural style of the person. She suspected that Ge Kirren and Ted Grantley had rarely been able to get away with public shows of affection, or behaving in non conventional ways and in this she was correct. In fact the pair had worked much harder than the other staff members to be careful since the warning of the inspection had gone round. Ted wore the hated skirts most of the time, although quite obviously irritated by them to begin with. Nell had also seen her deal with Con's occasional absent minded indiscretions very well. A hand resting on Ted's leg as they talked would be gently removed, but with a grip to show no lack of affection. 

Ge could get away with her normal style of dress, for her work around the farm made her attire less noticeable. Yet she had consciously held back on little signs of her relationship with Len, waiting till right within the farmhouse to deliver the usual peck on cheek greeting, and moving various family pictures to the couple's own bedroom. It had been particularly hard for her, since this was their home before any thought of the school had come. It had been their sanctuary, the place where they could forget the outside world. Yet Ge had made amendments, understanding this was simply for now, that the end result was worth the short term difficulties. 

In this one way Kathy's assessment was correct. Those with more understanding of the way the outside world could react had learnt to compromise for safety wherever they could. It was the others, either oblivious to the outside world like Belinda and Irene, or just careless like Con, Len and even Tom could be on occasion. All of them had been protected by a more accepting school environment than most, and a loving extended family. Tom was just a very forthright person, and struggled not to see hiding her true nature as a form of lying. She understood the need, but it wasn't automatic to her really. 

"What we have brought you together to discuss is a plan to give everyone skills to help them hide better." Nancy said, coming to the point finally. "We thought it could be a gentler way to deal with things than highlighting where they had been making mistakes. Between us, we all have many years of hiding our relationships in a school environment - and I'll admit not always succeeding!" 

Charlie looked doubtful, unsure whether she could help much. She had been living as a married woman for many years, her own experience was only the time of her and Nell being together back in Austria. She was going to say so, then as she thought about it, she realised that she did have something to contribute. The early Chalet days with Nell hadn't been too different a situation to this one. A small school, mixed age groups and a need to be discreet while also in the early physically exciting stages of a relationship. 

Penny Peters surprised them with a different perspective. 

"I'm not sure how much help I can be - I never had a relationship with a colleague, although I obviously know some skills for hiding in daily life."

"You pinpointed earlier why we feel you would be a great help - you have known Irene and Belinda since they were 12..."

"Help, don't remind me, makes me feel old!"

"Sorry! But you know what we mean. You have a history with them, you can perhaps gently remind them of how obvious they were in the sixth form - they quite possibly thought they were being discreet then."

Penny agreed with that and with helping produce a training session for all of the staff. She was pleased in fact to have been included. There was a shared Chalet School history all of the other older staff members had, and on occasion she did feel a little left out. Sometimes she really missed the familiarity of chatting with her old staff room friends, Miss Potts and Miss Parker. Nell and Charlie were friendly, as were Nancy and Kathy but it was always that little bit more reserved than the familiar banter of old friends. This was the first time she had been really involved and it was a nice change. 

The group chatted between them, and worked out a plan. A semi informal meeting was the first step to help the staff remember where boundaries needed to be drawn, sharing experience and gently highlighting the issues. No one really liked the fact that it was necessary, but they had all swiftly come to love this little school, and if a short term increase in caution could help it survive, it was well worth it.


	12. Chapter 12

Blissfully unaware of the tensions bubbling away back at the farm, the little group drove off towards Jack Trent's house, chattering happily and enjoying the time away. 

As they drew up to the cottage, they heard an express train screech and Kiki flew out of the window and landed in the car, landing neatly on Lucy Ann's shoulder. 

"Hello old girl," said Lucy Ann, stroking her tail feathers gently and letting Kiki nibble affectionately at her ear. "That was very loud, have you missed me then?"

Jack had followed his parrot out of the house in a more normal fashion, and was now standing grinning at the gate ready to greet them. The past few years had been incredibly busy for them all, especially Len and Ge, and the little group was pleased to have a chance to all enjoy an evening together. 

Tom Gay and Dinah were already inside, Tom having been able to leave far earlier without as much marking to do or the responsibilities of the farm. From the level of the bottle of wine on the table, and the sounds of Tom's laughter, they had been there a little while already. 

Lucy Ann followed Jack back into the kitchen to help with the last bits of food preparation. Although he really was finished, the pair were very close and he was happy to have his little sister there, tasting the dishes and suggesting a few extra herbs or spices. Living alone, Jack rarely bothered with anything complicated, but he was so pleased to have everyone back together again for once that he had made a real effort, and the smells coming from the kitchen promised a wonderful meal. 

In the little front room, Mike, Len and Ge found seats and joined Dinah and Tom in an amicable argument about whether wine bottles were getting smaller, along with waistlines of clothes and the amount of hours in the day. Ge and Mike couldn't really comment, as their busy days working on the farm rarely allowed enough leisure to put on any weight. Dinah was always rushing from one part of the hospital she worked in to another, so remained a similar size to normal. Tom and Len however were starting to find clothes just that little tighter; Both of them were spending so much time marking and staying still teaching that exercise was only possible when taking adventure skills. 

"I still find winters hard here," said Len, helping herself to an apple from the fruit bowl instead of the biscuits, though fully aware that she would probably still have a full meal, wine and dessert by the end of the evening. It was a special night out though. 

"I didn't realise just how much of my winter exercise came from skiing. You can sometimes get a good cross country run here when it's deepest winter, but this sort of time, heading into spring, it's hard to find the energy for going out running or doing other exercise." 

"Yes, it's a difficult time of year at the best of times." Tom agreed. "I do get some exercise with the woodwork, but because so much of it is supervision rather than actually working myself, it's nothing like as much as I used to when younger. I'd walk everywhere in London, whereas here I'm needed around the school so much I rarely get a good walk in at all." 

"Plenty of work to be done around the farm !" Added Ge with a grin. Tom and Len threw things at her and let her know just how unhelpful that statement was, given that they usually only had 30 minutes free at any one time before the next supervision task or lesson. She grinned back at them and they gave up, seeing that she was just in a mood to tease. 

"Get some of the students to help!" Said Len with feeling. "It would do them all the good in the world to get some of their energy out in a useful way!"

"That reminds me, Len" said Jack, as he and Lucy Ann came in to squeeze in and sit with their friends until the last bit of food was ready. "There's a friend of mine who was asking if the school accepted students in the middle of the term. His boy Rory is 15, has been having some problems at school, and they've been asked to remove him."

Len looked doubtful. There was plenty of room in the boy's boarding house, since there were far more girls than boys at the school at present. An extra boy, older than most of the students, and with behavioural problems could be a difficult thing at the best of times, but starting a few weeks into the term would be quite hard for him and the staff. 

"That depends, it wouldn't be easy... Why was he asked to leave?" She replied cautiously. 

"Nothing nasty, he's a good lad." Said Jack, smacking Kiki away from the bowl of fruit as she tried to peck at an orange. "Stop that Kiki, you open it and leave half of it, wait until someone has one to share."

Lucy Ann the kind hearted immediately suggested that she would have one, and the parrot settled on her shoulder to be fed at intervals as the talk went on. 

"He's been living at home and going to a local school until last year," Jack continued. "They have a small mixed farm and the boy has really taken to farming life. The whole Willow Farm family has, actually - the elder girl Sheila looks after the hens and ducks, the younger boy Benjy milks the cows and looks after the horses. The youngest, Penny is only 8 but even she mucks in - she's bottle reared quite a few young lambs and a goat kid apparently."

Ge frowned. She didn't recognise the description so the family must not be part of the local farming community. There had been a lot of small farms having problems recently, just as she herself had done until the school was set up and bought the farm produce to feed the students. She knew that the more traditional mixed farms were struggling to compete on price with some of the large arable or dairy farms, so she suspected that this one might be just as vulnerable. As Jack went on she had her suspicions confirmed. 

"Rory is the eldest and quite determined that he is going to be a farmer himself. His father however told me the farm is having some difficulties, and he wants Rory to make sure he gets some other education and training in case."

"Happening all over, he's right to encourage the boy to have a back up." Phillip said, looking serious. He knew many farmers through his years of animal research, and was keenly interested in the way the landscape was changing. "Small farms are having to merge, use the land more intensively. If he's not willing to do that, it's a difficult time to be in farming."

"Exactly. That was part of the reason for sending him off to school, but he hasn't settled. You know what some of these places can be like - anyone different gets attention. The lad went from being almost treated as an adult, with adult responsibilities and knowing what was expected of him, and what to do in most situations, to a completely different world. Not only that, his education had suffered with him focusing on the farm so much, so he's a little behind other boys his age and teased for it. Apparently he'd had a hard term before christmas, and a few weeks into this one he broke, ended up in a fight. The lad who went for him regretted it, as Rory is well built and strong for his age. It sounds to me as though the school sided with the bully, unfortunately."

What Jack didn't say, but the others guessed, was that the bully had lied about who started the fight and Rory wasn't believed. The other boy's family had good connections, he fitted in with the school and type of pupil wanted by the headmaster, and it was much easier to turn a blind eye to the provocation and just blame one boy. 

Rory hadn't been expelled, but a strong pressure put on his parents to remove him. His father thankfully knew Rory to always be honest, even if in the wrong. He understood the situation only too well, and wasn't keen to leave his son at the school, so Rory had come home, but it still left them with no solution for the boy's education. 

"Rory himself doesn't want to go to another boarding school, but the parents are determined. There is plenty of money for his fees, from all I can tell, a trust left by his grandfather pays for all of the children's education. But the farm itself is struggling, and quite remote. The parents can't find anywhere sensible that he could go to on a day basis. Also they feel that he just won't concentrate on school if he thinks he is needed at home." 

Jack wound up his description. He looked hopefully at Len and Ge, sure that they would be able to help. The fact that the school was built on a working farm would allow Rory to still be building his farming skills and experience, and he wouldn't be alone in needing a bit of pushing to concentrate on academic work and results. 

Len sighed. She could see that their environment would probably be ideal for the boy - and it sounded as though eventually it would be the whole family. She promised to talk to Nancy and Kathy and see what they suggested, but warned that it might not be possible until the following term. She couldn't and wouldn't say until she had asked the headmistresses. 

Lucy Ann and Mike looked at each other. This reply confirmed their feelings that any changes had to be handled carefully, and that Len was not going to be keen to put herself in the middle if Nancy and Kathy objected to any of the changes they wanted to make. 

In this, the house mistress and master had still misunderstood the way the headmistresses worked. They needed to be involved and consulted, but they weren't against change, just wanted things to be done in a measured and careful way. As time went on, Mike and Lucy Ann would realise this, and feel confident enough to go to the pair themselves, but for now the relationship with the heads was still a very formal one. It was still only early days in the whole staff getting used to working as a team. 

The pair decided to wait until after the meal before broaching their concerns, otherwise it would seem as though everyone had got together and invited Len to ask her things. Even though this was the truth in part, she and Ge were so clearly enjoying being out together that no one wanted to spoil things by jumping in too quickly. 

Finally the food was finished, a few more bottles of wine had been drunk and the general chat had drifted to a slower pace. Lucy Ann gripped Mike's hand and started. 

"We have a question. About the school."


	13. Chapter 13

Everyone sat up and looked towards Lucy Ann. She coloured, never really liking being the centre of attention. 

"Well... What we were wondering... Um" she started, then took a breath and began again. "Do you have a plan - for the growth of the school?" 

Len and Ge looked puzzled. 

"What do you mean?" Len asked, frowning as she looked from Lucy Ann to Mike.

"Well, the girls dormitories are nearly full already." Mike said, feeling that he couldn't let Lucy Ann do all of the work. "What's the plan if the place takes off and you need more space?" 

"Well the old Dairy is next door, we planned to convert that from storage to a dormitory or two. After that we'd have to build extra space, but we thought we would have a few years before that would be necessary. Why?" 

Mike and Lucy Ann looked hopeful. 

"We wondered ourselves whether that might be an option." Mike said. "The old dairy would work well as part of the boarding house. What would be needed to do that - could we do it this term?"

"Not too much, we have the extra bed frames ready, it would just mean getting some more mattresses, building the desks and a bit of decorating really."

"Well, in that case - would you ..." Lucy Ann started, then corrected herself, knowing that Len was very conscious of keeping Nancy and Kathy involved. "...or rather - you, Ge and the Heads. Would you consider making those into either a senior or junior house ?" 

"Junior house ideally." Mike added quickly. "You see - we really are having problems after lights out."

He and Lucy Ann quickly explained what was happening, and their plans. It was quite simple really, and would at least reduce some of the issues. If they could move all of the Juniors to their own space and keep the older ones in the study cubicles then each dormitory could be dealt with separately, and it would be much easier to set up an earlier bedtime for the very youngest ones. Their worries had been that the finances wouldn't stretch to the work needed, but if if was only some extra mattresses and work to prepare then hopefully it wouldn't be an issue. 

"We were thinking about it, and you wouldn't need the desks straight away. The youngest ones can't really sit at them that well anyway, so we were wondering about moving their prep to a classroom. They only do about half an hour at this age anyway, and that is done in school hours." 

"So the younger ones are getting ready for bed when the 'middles' are doing prep, and they distract them. Then the 'middles' keep the juniors awake so they're overtired. If we had them in separate rooms, we could have fixed bed times again." 

Lucy Ann grew more confident as she explained the plan. "The little ones could have those small rooms at either the end of the dairy for a play room - or call it a common room, so they feel it's a privilege. They could even have desks the right size for them in there,eventually and do their prep together."

The friends all saw the benefits of the plan at once, and Len was sure that Nancy and Kathy would too. The school design had originally been made with specific children in mind, who were different ages but all mainly of one family. Keeping everyone in the same type of room was the best way to avoid family resentment, but at school it didn't work. With the sudden influx of extra students the previous term when the sports-mad school had closed, the situation had changed. As the school grew it would only get more confusing to have all the different ages together.

"We'll have problems with some of them. Jenks for instance." Said Tom thoughtfully. "He'd be counted in the juniors for out of school situations wouldn't he? But he does his lessons in with those much older than himself. Where would he go?" 

"We'd thought of that. He's one of the biggest problems, as he thinks he's one of the older ones, but he's still only 9 in body whatever he might be brain wise. He needs to take some time to grow up a little more slowly, rather than trying to keep up with the older boys so much."

"Yes, but if you make him obviously more junior he'll feel embarrassed. If I know Jenks, he'll behave even worse - if that were possible!" Said Tom with feeling. 

Jenks Trottville, like his father, was way ahead of the other students in most of his classes, with barely any effort, being blessed with excellent brains if he bothered to use them. In woodwork however, he struggled, being far less physically strong than some of the others, and also too impatient to take proper care of his work. 

When he made public mistakes, he couldn't cope, so played the fool, disturbing the others and on occasion nearly causing accidents with his carelessness. Tom had wasted many lessons trying to make him behave, and only the threat of moving him down to a class on his own had made him stop and think. Without an audience, Jenks would find life very boring, and he also knew that his heroes John Kirren and Gerry Seymour wouldn't think much of him if he failed the class. Both of the older boys loved to build, and spent hours with Josie planning improvements to their treehouse. 

"We thought, if everyone agreed, that he could be made head of the Junior boys." Said Lucy Ann, looking at the others to gauge their reactions. 

As she had suspected, the resident staff looked very doubtful. Jenks had managed to irritate most of the staff and students in the past term and bit. However she was sure that their plan would work. Jenks was the son of Frederick 'Fatty' Trottville, but he was also Mike's nephew. Lucy Ann knew her sister in law quite well, as several of the adventure groups had been friends for years. 

Mike and Peggy had always struggled to catch up academically after a difficult start in life, and neither were hugely confident. Lucy Ann saw a lot of her own husband in Jenks, despite the much easier time the boy had in lessons. Give him a reason to feel important, make him spend less time trying to be one of the older boys, and he would calm down a lot, she was sure. 

Len was quite doubtful about Jenks being head of anything, but she saw the point in one way, as he was the only real leader among the younger children. She saw the benefits of the dormitory plan and it would help with various timetabling issues as well, to have the juniors able to go to bed at their original intended time without affecting the other's prep and relaxation time. 

"It's a good idea, if we can manage it." She said slowly. "I'll pass it on to the Heads, and see what they and the other school owners have to say. It's extra expense of course, but it could work." 

Thankfully the Heads agreed, as did Dick Kirren, who was happy enough to help with the funding. He could see that the school was working, even with these teething problems, and apart from being a safe place for his children to go, he could see that it was a good investment. His cousin Ge struggled with the fact that he was providing the cash, but when relative peace descended on the school eventually with the two age groups being separated, she was glad that it had been possible.


	14. Chapter 14

The other matter discussed came to a similar result, all involved seeing that their environment would be a good one for Rory. In the end they gained not just him, but his brother and one of his sisters. Benjy had been due to go away to school soon anyway, and Sheila was finding the local school not to be much of a challenge. 

It was a difficult situation for the little family from Willow Farm. For the first time in a few years they were going to be away from the farm, and all their usual routines and animal friends. Penny was to stay at home, at least for now, for her mother didn't feel she could give up all her children at once. Also she was still quite happy at the little local school, and would have found it hard being a junior when her siblings were all 'middles'. An extra year at home would give her a chance to grow up a little more and also allow the others not to feel they needed to look after her while trying to find their feet in the new situation. 

Rory was the one who found it hardest. Benjy tended to take most things in his stride, and Sheila had been feeling a little isolated recently at the farm so was looking forward to being around a few more people their own age. However Rory felt himself to be nearly a man, and that he would be wasting time with lessons now, he could be helping build the farm up and learning as he went along. Also his recent experience at the hands of the bullies didn't help, and he saw no reason why things would be any better at the new school. It was a boarding school, and they would almost certainly look down on him as a farmer's son. 

The decision had been made to wait until half term, and let the new students join just before the holiday. Several of the young adventurers were staying at school in the break, as their families were either living abroad or too busy for it to be sensible for the children to return. If the Willow Farm children arrived just in time for the break, they could get to know a few of their classmates in a non academic setting first, rather than leaping straight into both schoolwork and the social side all at once. 

The weeks before the children were to go were unusually stormy ones at Willow Farm. Rory was angry and kept to himself, doing all his chores then disappearing off for hours with his collie True. Penny was upset to be left behind, although she was secretly glad to not have to go away from her mother just yet. Sheila and Benjy were more level, but even they found Rory hard to deal with, and wished on occasion that he was just going by himself, as he had done the previous term. 

Finally it was the day before they were to leave. A horse box had been hired and their donkeys were to be loaded in and transported to the school. True would come along with the children in the train, as would Benjy's squirrel Scamper. Rory had been in a foul temper all day, and had stalked off for 'one last walk with True, they'll never let me take him far at stupid school'. 

He tramped moodily along, barely looking where he was going, letting True pick the path. His dog looked up at him, confused, for this behaviour was most unlike his normally even tempered master. In the way that animals seemed to sense the best thing to do, he led his master to the only person he could think of to help. Rory was too busy staring at his feet to realise, but True gradually led him around the hill and up to a cave in the hillside. In front of the cave sat Tamylan, the wild man. Every animal for miles around knew the wild man was the best one to go to for any injury, and True could tell his master was hurting. 

"Hello Rory, have you come to say goodbye?" Said the wild man, calmly continuing to feed a sickly looking rabbit with a medicine of his own making. 

"Er..yes.. I...um" said Rory, surprised out of his sulk by finding himself here. 

"It will be a good place, from your father's description." Said Tamylan, still avoiding looking directly at Rory, knowing just as he did with animals that the boy was hurting, couldn't cope with his emotions at present.

"Humph. I suppose." Rory replied. He hadn't been willing to look at the prospectus, so beyond the fact that True could come with him this time, unlike his previous school, he didn't really know much about the ISAY school at all. 

"You must be looking forward to learning from Ge Kirren and Phillip Mannering." The wild man continued in a soft tone, seeing that Rory had sat down now and seemed to be listening. 

"Phillip Mannering ? He teaches there?" Rory was surprised into admitting his interest. He and Benjy often listened to Phillip Mannering's radio show, and had been to a talk the man had given on how to calm an animal in pain. He vaguely recognised the other name too, but couldn't think why. 

"He does. He's been a friend of Ge Kirren for many years, and the school is on her farm after all. "

Rory wracked his brains trying to think why the name Kirren was familiar. He sat up straighter as he realised. 

'Kirren method! You mean the school is on the farm that invented the new way to keep corn free of pests?" 

Tamylan nodded, seeing a little of the old Rory beginning to return. Anything about crops or animal husbandry would bring a spark to the boy's eyes. He was born to be a farmer, and the wild man suspected that his father's attempts to get the boy to have other options would always be in vain. However since the young lad had to go away, he may as well go with a happier heart. 

"That's correct. Ge Kirren herself invented the method, and rather than keep it to herself she shared the information freely. She works hard to try to help other small farmers like herself and your father compete with the bigger ones. She's been involved with farming since she was around your age, and has a lot of knowledge to share, if you are ready to listen."

Rory was quiet for a while. He didn't like to back down after saying so much about how pointless school was, but he truly wanted to learn more advanced methods, and Kirren Farms had been getting a reputation for excellent crops and livestock, even while the general downturn had made it hard even for them to make much money. In fact this was part of the farm's problem - Ge was stubborn, and if she believed an action to be right, that would be what she did. In the long term it meant her food and animal quality was high, in the short term it had nearly led to the farm running out of funds. 

Not that Rory knew any of this, of course. He was too excited by the idea of being around a farm with innovative methods, and to learn from experts how to improve things on Willow Farm. 

Tamylan, wise as ever, changed the subject and asked Rory to help him set the leg of a young fawn who had appeared in the clearing, clearly hurt by a trap and needing attention. Rory helped with a will, and then said his goodbyes, returning to the farm in a much better frame of mind than when he had left.


	15. Chapter 15

Back at the school, the weeks before half term had been full of change for the pupils of the school. The new set up with the junior dormitories had been arranged quite quickly, and although there were some teething problems initially, the younger students had soon settled into their new abode. As planned, it had led to a greater sense of belonging for a few of the students who had been a little overwhelmed before. 

Jenks had proved Lucy Ann right to have faith in him, and had suddenly taken on a most responsible manner, at least in the evenings. During the day he was as irrepressible as ever, but a few weeks of decent sleep at least meant that he was no longer as quick to over react as he had been before. He was someone who thrived as a big fish in a small pool, and while sometimes his peers had to put him in his place, he also defended their space well when the inevitable dormitory wars began. 

The wars were one downside of the new system. The girls had been split in quite an even fashion, since just over half were the age of 'middles' and stayed where they were. More of the boys were older however, and so the 'middles' had gone from a crowded dormitory with the youngest boys being an annoying minority to a much quieter one with most of them the same age. The ability to do their prep in peace was welcomed, but things had quickly become quite boring, since the male 'middles' were mainly all friends and family and got along well. The juniors were a more mixed group and hadn't yet learnt to work together. Under Jenk's leadership, with Sam Seymour as a quiet yet strong second however, they had started to band together. 

They were very proud of their little domain, for one of their number was the young prince Llony of Baronia, son of Prince Paul. Llony was able to order in extra furnishings and even some furniture and a small television set, something that made the little prep room attached to the junior dormitory a really cosy place to be on the wet winter evenings.

The juniors couldn't help but boast, and highlight that they now had in effect their own common room. The middles were led by the generally sensible trio of John Kirren, Gerry Seymour and Felix Maynard, but also included some livewires, including Kevin and Kester Russell. They were not the types to let their juniors get away with cheek. 

Kevin, in a not-so-rare moment of devilment, had suggested a campaign of tricks and jokes against the juniors. John Kirren and Gerry Seymour felt at times they ought to keep themselves apart from it all, being on the school council, but the temptation was too great, and they joined in. The boys swiftly developed a plan of attack, drawn up in their now quiet dormitory after lights out. 

They realised quite quickly that they would never manage to get much past Ranni and Pilescu, who were Prince Llony's bodyguards and slept in rooms near the dairy now, taking turns to watch over their prince at night. Luckily for them, the gentle giants had a good sense of humour, and when approached to turn a blind eye to occasional visits from one dormitory to another, they smiled and agreed, although they warned the middles not to try anything too late at night, and nothing that would bring physical harm to their prince. 

So began a period of apple pie beds, sneezing powder on pillows and swopping of clothes so that boys thought they had grown in the night. The juniors were quick to realise the identity of their tormentors, and well able to retaliate, so for a short period the period between junior prep and bed was an eventful time. 

The staff had a good idea what was going on, but it rarely affected the bedtimes, discipline or work done much, so left the students to get on with it. As Ruey said with feeling, at least if they were plotting and playing tricks on each other, they didn't have too much time left over for tricks in lesson time ! 

Dormitory wars apart, the new arrangements worked well, as the younger students began to gain in confidence and spend more time all together. The more responsible of the older students were able to relax a bit more without having to always remember to be a good influence. The teenagers were also glad to get that extra little bit of sleep in the morning without active and noisy juniors about. 

The staff were usually too busy in the evening to pay much attention to the junior dormitories as long as they were not actively misbehaving, and the boys' feud was able to run for quite some time, with neither side getting bored or gaining too much of an advantage. 

The girls were no less inclined to rivalries, but their own spate of tricks and jokes died off quite quickly in favour of an occupation that seemed harmless to begin with, but would result in a hair raising experience for all involved. 

The junior girls had no royalty to help them make their new dormitory a home, but they had managed nevertheless to add several touches that made it cosy and inviting. Maggie Arnold had inherited Lucy Ann's knack for making a place feel homely and comfortable, and soon enough the girls' study room was a very relaxing place to be. 

The juniors had a short gap during prep time for the middles, after their work was done for the day, but before they had to go to bed. Although the big communal common room was still open to them, they quickly began to choose to use the prep rooms attached to each dormitory as a place to gather together. In the dark evenings it could be quite atmospheric, and the girls soon realise it was a perfect place to tell each other stories. Most of them had adventurous relatives, so even simple family tales involved a fair amount of danger. 

One Tuesday it was Maggie Arnold's turn, and as she had already told most of the family stories she could think of, she decided to choose an old Belsornian legend told to her by her uncle King Paul. The story was an old fashioned fairy tale, gruesome and full of suspense. 

Just as Maggie was coming to the end, with all of the characters seeming to be doomed and recovery impossible, their house mistress appeared at the door, making the girls all shriek in a way that they were mostly ashamed of afterwards. 

Lucy Ann jumped along with them, then laughed. She remembered listening to storytelling late at night at school, although no one ever believed the tales that she and Dinah could have told, so she had rarely joined in. She was glad for these girls that they had this more relaxed place to grow up, tell their tales and not be accused of lying or attention seeking half the time. Even so, she was immovable about them getting off to bed, and refused to allow any delay, however much they pleaded to be allowed to finish the story. This had happened before, and she wasn't going to allow bedtime to gradually drift the way it had before in the mixed dormitories. 

Giving up finally, and with a vague plan to finish the story in whispers, the girls eventually settled down in their dormitory and waited for their house mistress to go. Lucy Ann knew perfectly well that this was the idea and was more than a match for them. She settled herself down on a chair in the corner, so that silence was the only option. Finally the breathing and small snores from around the dormitory told her that most of the girls were asleep. 

Unfortunately not everyone had settled. Rosie Seymour tossed and turned, mind still full of goatlike spirits haunting an evil king. She was blessed - or perhaps cursed - with as active an imagination as her brother Gerry. As tiredness eventually overtook her, she fell into a fitful sleep, surrounded by dreams turning rapidly to nightmare. 

Wrapped tightly in her blankets, in case the goats could get her toes, she began to get overheated. Waking in a daze, and feeling both panicky and sick, she stumbled to her feet and started down the dormitory, a vague thought about going to find Gerry in her head. For all that she and her brother regularly teased each other, Gerry was fiercely protective of his brother and sister, and Rosie felt sure he would protect her against the monsters. 

In her confusion, however, she wandered into the small cupboard opening off the dormitory. It had once been the very end of the farm's old dairy, and the coolness of the stone under her feet began to rouse her. There was no light on in the cupboard, which was simply a storage space now, and she narrowly missed tripping over as she stumbled forward, hands outstretched. 

Her fingers caught onto something on the wall, and gripped it, trying to get her bearings. A small metal ring, rusted and rough to the touch. She was about to release it when she caught her foot on a pile of cleaning supplies, stumbled forward and her whole weight pulled sharply down on the ring. 

There was a groaning, scrape of a noise, and Rosie felt the floor beneath her tilt. Before she could even start to react, she was sliding downwards, and landed with a thump on a dusty sack far below. Shaken fully awake by now, she looked up in horror as the stone she had just disturbed tilted slowly back into place, fitting into the ceiling above her, and returning the floor of the cupboard above to an apparently solid block of stone.


	16. Chapter 16

Rosie began immediately to shout for help, but to no avail. The ancient secret room had been well designed, and had remained hidden for centuries. For some reason it had not been noted down when the map was drawn up of secret passages in and around Kirren Farm and Cottage, and even Ge didn't know it was there. 

Rosie hollered time and time again; trying not to panic, but failing. She had grown up running all over Kirren Farm and nearby caves, along with her cousins. She knew too that her mother and aunt and uncles would have mentioned this secret space if they had known about it. Even worse - noone else had been awake, and seen her get out of bed. The chance of anyone finding her here was very low. 

After a short time she realised it was no use shouting, and decided to conserve her energy. She had become slightly more adapted to the darkness, and decided to try to test the walls for another way out. Systematically, she pushed and tapped on every wall, but very quickly came to realise that this wasn't a passage, but merely a secret room barely taller than her. She guessed that it was a storage room, a cellar of sorts, but with a hidden doorway. Now, she finally let herself break down a little, and cry. This wore her out, and she dropped to the floor and curled up to sleep, worn out. 

She woke finally in daytime. She could see a tiny sliver of light from a vent near the top of the room, which she guessed correctly was about the level of the ground outside the old dairy. She rubbed her eyes and set her teeth, determined to look on the bright side. She had a little light now, so it must be daytime, and there was a slight breeze from the little vent, so she wouldn't suffocate, which had been a real worry the night before. 

Meanwhile, though a few of the girls had heard Rosie tripping over the cleaning supplies, none of them had roused enough to do more than dismiss it as a dream. They noticed Rosie had gone in the morning, but it wasn't that unusual for people to wake early and go out for a walk. Rosie was one of the early risers, and often went out into the farmyard to see if Timmy the dog was up. Last term she had sometimes gone to visit her brothers in the boys dormitory. They weren't strictly supposed to do this, so in case that was where she was, none of the girls mentioned her being missing to Lucy Ann. 

It wasn't until the register was being taken in the first lesson that anyone really realised that something might be wrong. 

"Rosie Seymour" 

Silence. 

"Rosie?" 

Some giggles and nervous looks. 

"Does anyone know where Rosie is ?"

Ted looked around at her form, and decided to give Rosie a little longer, since none of her friends seemed worried about her. She would probably turn up soon. She went on with the register, taking it a little slower than usual, to give the girl a chance to arrive before it ended. 

Rosie meanwhile had heard noises out in the farmyard, and tried shouting, but quickly gave up. Experience with family adventures had taught her not to waste any energy, and there weren't usually many people around outside during the school day anyway. It had been a thick stone slab that had tipped up to drop her down, and she was pretty sure that no one could hear her through the floor. She decided to investigate the air vent, see whether she could work out where it came out. 

She squinted up at the light, then tried to see if she could reach it, and see out. Not for the first time, she wished she was taller, as she couldn't quite get her eyes up to the holes. It seemed to be a type of air brick, with holes in it, although it was much older than the regular, red brick type she had seen before.

She bit her lip. She was a brave soul for her age, but she also knew the dangers of old traps and secret passages, especially those that were unknown. She was sure that Ge would have warned them about it if she had known, so there was every chance that no one would know what had happened. The thought made her chest tighten, and panic begin to set in. Suddenly it seemed like there was even less air in the room, and she couldn't even begin to croak out a cry for help. This was really serious, and she didn't know what to do. How would she ever get out ? 

Above ground, Ted had reached the end of the register, and sent one of Rosie's classmates was sent to ask Lucy Ann whether she had kept the girl back for any reason. When a worried Lucy Ann arrive back herself to reply in the negative, Ted frowned. Rosie wasn't at all someone who she would have expected to cause a problem. She thanked Lucy Ann, set the class some written work, had a quick, look around herself, and checked where Rosie's brothers were. Both Gerry and Sam were where they were supposed to be, and looked totally unconcerned. The little family was very tightly knit, and the only other person Ted would have expected Rosie to be with was her aunt Ge. Ge was out at the far reaches of the farm this morning with Timmy, and it seemed very unlikely that she would have taken the girl with her. 

Ted knew her form wouldn't behave for long without supervision. She decided that this was past the point where she could keep Rosie's absence to herself to avoid the girl getting into too much trouble, so went to report to Kathy and Nancy. 

"Thanks for letting us know Ted, we'll find her soon, I'm sure. If she turns up to the lesson send her along to us, she's perhaps just lost track of time." 

Ted went back to her form, hoping that Kathy was right. It was only the second term of the school, but the youngest children in the school were a small group, and Ted felt she knew her form quite well. If it had been Maggie Arnold, or Prince Llony, Ted would have assumed them to be late, distracted, perhaps have slept in. 

Rosie however was quite keen on her work, and so excited to be at school that she in general behaved very well. She was such an early bird that she was usually there in the classroom well before time, never late. 

Kathy and Nancy weren't showing their concern outwardly, but they too were worried. They had a good idea of the characters of the pupils, and even more importantly, they knew that both Ted and Lucy Ann were well aware of their young charges, and neither would have reported it if they could deal with it by themselves. 

It was unfortunately a very busy morning teaching wise, so most of the staff were already working. Nancy made a quick visit to the staff room and collected together Ruey, Con Maynard and Sam Harbottle. Seeing Kathy's look as she noticed the last one, Nancy shrugged and said quitely. 

"Well he wanted to come, and more sets of eyes are always helpful in a search." 

Kathy still looked doubtful. A term and had shown quite clearly that Sam Harbottle and common sense were not at all well acquainted. He would be perfectly capable of making the search harder rather than easier, especially if he became distracted. However his heart was in the right place, and he was clearly wanting to do all he could. 

They split up, Ruey with Con taking the farmhouse side; Kathy going to interrogate Rosie's classmates, and Nancy taking Sam off to start checking near the boarding house. Lucy Ann had already searched thoroughly in there, and was completely baffled. As she said to Nancy when they arrive, she just hoped a fresh set of eyes might help.

"Her bed looks slept in - and I know it was, as she was there when I left them all sleeping last night. Ranni & Pilescu are certain that no one left either of the junior dormitories. Yet she seems to have vanished, some time between last night and now." 

"Was she upset in any way? Do you think we have a runaway ?" 

"There was nothing out of the ordinary, she was listening to a story along with the others and went to bed. She kept asking to be allowed to finish the story, but that was it." 

"Hmmmm. Is she a sleepwalker?" 

Lucy Ann thought for a moment. "It's never been mentioned, and she seems to sleep well normally here." 

"Did any of the girls see her this morning?" 

"None of them admit to it, and I think they're telling the truth." 

"How about her brothers?" 

"I haven't asked them yet, they seem happy and unconcerned - and they are in school."

"We can take them out to talk to them, finding Rosie is more important."

"No, I don't mean that, I mean if there was an adventure they wouldn't be in school, or look so calm. I don't think they know anything. And we don't want to set them off searching unless absolutely necessary. I honestly don't think it's an adventure. At least one of the sets of adventurers, old or young would have felt it coming on. It's an incident so far, and I feel we can still manage it."

Nancy looked bemused. Sometimes the semi psychic belief system the adventurers had made no sense to her at all. Lucy Ann saw her face, and tried to work out how to explain. She and Mike were both adventurers and had learned over the years what signs tended to suggest an adventure on it's waty. 

They also knew what might trigger investigative behaviour in their charges, and they knew the feel of adventures. Several times since the school had started Mike and Lucy Ann had nipped many pre adventures in the bud without other staff even realising. 

"It's hard to explain. If Rosie is just lost, that could be an incident. If Gerry and Sam get involved, or even know she is missing, they will go straight into adventure mode; Before you know it they will all be missing, and probably take half the middles along with them." 

Nancy still wasn't sure. It didn't seem logical, and she was very skeptical of the "I smell and adventure" idea. However she did see that it might be best to keep Gerry and Sam in school just in case something had happened to their sister. The last thing they needed was several of the top year of the school suddenly going AWOL. 

Kathy arrived at this point and confirmed that none of Rosie's classmates seemed to know anything. Con and Ruey hadn't found any sign of Rosie around the farmhouse, or in the treehouse. 

"We've even had a quick look along the staff corridors, and into the old passageway between here and Kirren Cottage. No sign of her anywhere." 

While the mistresses anxiously discussed what to do, Sam Harbottle wandered around the junior dormitory, looking under every bed, behind the curtains, and even in the little rafter space near the end of the building. He saw the door to the storage cupboard and looked in, but it was a small room and no where to hide. Lucy Ann hadn't done more than glance in and check Rosie wasn't there, making a mental note to tidy up the cupboard at some stage. Sam however couldn't help but notice that some cleaning chemicals were spilt out of packets, and dengerously close to other unidentified powder. The chemistry teacher was fairly sure the school wouldn't be storing dangerous chemicals in a dormitory, but he couldn't take the risk. He looked around for a dustpan and swept up the powder, then absent mindedly tidied up the bottles that had tipped over when the slab had pivoted open. 

Down below, Rosie had fallen into a doze, finally waking eventually with quite a headache, for the air in the space was becoming stale, with only such small holes in the air brick to let fresh air in. 

She gave a quick try to shouting for help again, but the stone floor was thick, and there was noone outside. She needed to try to get someone's attention, and the only option was to do something via the airbrick, send some sort of clue to her position. 

But what?


	17. Chapter 17

Ge Kirren stretched, and put her hand on the small of her back. It had been a hard morning, repairing boundary walls and checking for gaps in the hedges. She was glad for the peace however, and the time alone with just Timmy.

For someone who had never liked strangers much, having so many people about all the time could be very wearing for her. Ge was glad for the way the school was developing, and loved being able to see Len so much; She also knew the twins were getting on far better now than they had at their last school. Even so, when every walk across the farmyard meant a wave or greeting from staff or students, Ge couldn't help feeling a bit crowded. 

She looked at her handiwork and decided it was enough for now. None of the sheep would be escaping from that field any time soon. 

"Well Tim, that's another job done!" She said, looking over at him and expecting his normal ear waggle and look of agreement. It didn't really matter much what Ge said, Timmy knew he was likely to agree with it. Unless it involved the words 'Bath', 'Cat' or 'Danger' of course. 

"Tim?" 

Ge felt her breath catch in her throat, as for the first time she could remember, the familiar look or small "Wuff" of agreement didn't happen. She felt frozen in place, and hardly dared to go over to him. He was probably just asleep, that was all. Although he had always slept with one ear open, and responded instantly to her. 

She had to move soon, go over to him, find out why he wasn't responding. He was getting older now, and although he always insisted on following her, he couldn't run beside the bike anymore. Ge had tried to leave him at the farmhouse when she went out to the edges of the farm, but he had determinedly made his way to her each time, taking half the morning to arrive sometimes, then having to start back almost immediately. Tom Gay had seen the problem, and made a little trailer for him, towed behind Ge's bike. It worked really well, and Timmy loved his mobile dog basket. 

Tom had set some of the older students onto helping her make it, and John, Josie and Gerry had been happy to help. It had huge wheels and good suspension to cope with the ruts in the muddy fields, and was well balanced, so didn't hold Ge back too much. There was a curved bit of wood making a roof, and wind breaks to the sides, with a collection of warm blankets within. Josie had even added a little pannier for bones, and a removable water bowl. 

Ge had had Timmy since she was young, and she knew that he had lived far longer than most dogs, more than any others she knew. This was another reason that she made the effort to take him out in the trailer as often as possible. Timmy had been the first proper friend she had had, and had never let her down. She hated the signs that had started to come up, and was doing her very best to ignore them. She couldn't ignore this : he hadn't responded, and he was very still, she couldn't really be sure if he was breathing or not. 

She gulped, and blinked back sudden tears, then moved towards the trailer, willing him to wake up as she went. 

\-----

Back at the farm, Rosie felt around in the darkness, making a collection of items in front of her. There wasn't much in the little room, obviously only things that had fallen in at one time or another. The blanket that she had wrapped around her shoulders, a brush and a collection of small bottles and cans from the cleaning supplies, along with the only thing she felt might be useful, a ball of twine. She couldn't think of a way to use those things, so rummaged around further, finding some old sacks and under them a collection of old bricks, and a curved bit of metal. She ran her fingers around the metal, confused, before realising that it must have been the handle from an old milking pail. 

At least the bricks were helpful, as she could use them to get her eyes just on a level with the holes in the air brick and look out. She could only see a small amount, but it confirmed that it was the farm yard she could see. No one was there at present, but she hoped that at some stage Ge or Mike would come back. She needed to find a way to signal that she was there. 

She looked at her collection. She tried the twine first, pushing it out through the holes. It went out ok, but just lay on the ground, and wasn't really very visible at all. She needed to make it look more out of place. She pulled the twine back, and sat for a moment, trying to think. She could make the string more noticeable with little bits of her blanket knotted along it. Thankfully it had bright red and blue patches, so she was able to use a sharp edge to one of the stones to tear a few strips of colour out, and knot them along the twine. The problem then was that the twine didn't feed out of the holes properly any more, and it still wasn't very noticable. She was getting very tired, with the low air supply, and couldn't think properly any more. It took her a while to realise she was never going to get more than the twine through without something to push it. The handle from the metal pail might be useful, but it looked like it was just a little thicker than the hole in the air brick. She straightened it anyway, and tried it, nearly crying out in frustration as it looked like it would fit, then stuck in the hole. 

There wasn't anything else she could see to use, so the only option was to try to make the gap just a bit bigger. If she did that the knotted twine would go through, and she could use the metal handle to lift the little flags a bit off the ground. It wasn't much, but it was a start. She slowly began to rub the metal against the crumbly brick, wearing it down a little at a time. 

\----------

Everyone was baffled, having searched all over the school and farm. Lunchtime had come and gone, and still no sign. They had had to tell Gerry and Sam, as the gossip from Rosie's form mates was starting to make it's way around the school. As expected, they had gone straight into adventure mode, along with John and Josie, Jenks and Rosie's friend Maggie. The dormitory had been scoured for clues, and the non adventurous staff had been amazed to see the way their charges worked. 

"Maggie, you check her clothes, Sam look for clues, Jenks you question her form mates, we'll go and check all the secret passages" said John, before speeding off with Gerry in the direction of the beach. 

"I'll get Timmy" Josie sped off, forgetting completely to ask for permission. Nancy frowned, then decided to let it go. It would have been Adventure Skills after this anyway, and it was clear that the little gang knew what they were doing. In a few moments they had found more information than the adults had all morning. Even Lucy Ann was surprised at how good they were. She had never been particularly involved with detective style work, tending more to go along with the others when an adventure came along. Her family used to fall into adventure rather than look for and deal with criminals actively, but this next generation were clearly considering it as a profession, even at this age. 

"She hasn't taken any shoes" Maggie noticed. "That isn't like Rosie. She stood on a nail once, and ever since she's as bad as mum about...er...um" 

Maggie went red, she had obviously forgotten Lucy Ann was there. She was soon distracted again, as she looked through the bedclothes.

"There's a blanket missing too. Red and blue one." 

Meanwhile Sam had checked all around the room, and both his and Gerry's cubicles, just in case. The elders didn't know, but Rosie had had a nightmare last term and instinctively come to find Gerry, and got into bed with him. The boy had just half woken and put an arm round her, but had been embarrassed the next day, when he woke to teasing about having a girl in his bed. Sam was pretty sure that Rosie wouldn't have intentionally done the same thing again, but it was worth checking. Finding nothing useful, he returned to the girl's dormitory, and was soon systematically checking the walls for any gaps or possible passage entrances. 

"What are you doing?" Nancy couldn't help herself, as he tapped and felt his way around the room. Sam was quite a shy boy, so gave Maggie a plaintive look, and she explained. 

"Please, Miss Wilmot, it looks very like a secret passage incident." 

"What makes you say that? Has Rosie mentioned a secret passage here?" 

Lucy Ann replied, seeing that Maggie was quite in awe of the headmistress, and wanting to get on with her search. 

"Oh no, we only know about the one in one of the twin's bedrooms, and I think one in the farm cellar. There shouldn't be any more here. But that doesn't mean there aren't. This was a smuggler's coast, and there's always a chance of hidey holes here. Even in a dairy."

"I understand. But why are you children so sure it's a secret passage?" Nancy didn't want to interfere, but she was fascinated by the completely different world these children seemed to live in. This was her first chance to really see them in action, rather than practising. She was worried about Rosie, but was a born teacher, and couldn't help trying to learn so that she could do a better job in adventure skills sessions. 

Sam had stopped his tapping and decided to answer, as he couldn't hear the walls properly with all this chatter. He was very worried about his sister, and struggling not to panic. It wasn't at all like Rosie to be missing this long, she was usually a searcher in an adventure, not a victim.

"Ranni didn't hear or see anyone leave, and they have a good view of the door. She doesn't have outside clothes, or shoes so it seems like she left before morning and wasn't planning on going outside. None of sensed an adventure so it's probably an accidental passage find." 

Nancy wasn't much the wiser, but she realised that the children and Lucy Ann seemed to understand, so left the topic for now. Sam continued his working round the walls, and Maggie followed his lead, heading into the storage room to do the same. The walls showed no hollow areas or cracks however, and she swiftly came to the conclusion that Rosie hadn't been in there. She herself knocked over cleaning materials when she walked in, there would have been signs of disturbance if Rosie had been there. She went out and headed off to help Jenks instead, shutting the door behind her.

She wasn't surprised to find that Jenks was making himself thoroughly unpopular with his peers by bossing them around, forgetting that they were mostly of a similar age to him. He was in a more advanced class in school, so tended not to spend that much time with the others, even though he was getting to know them better in recent weeks from sharing a dormitory.

"We have to know when Rosie was last seen, and this is the most organised way to do it." He was saying crossly, holding his police style notebook and pen ready for notes. 

"Who put you in charge anyway."

"We've already told the teachers, we don't know." 

"Go away Jenks."

"No he's right, we do need to do this." Maggie arrived just in time and tried to smooth things over. "He's a pain, but he is good at this bit, we need to try to work out what happened."

The young adventurers sighed and started to answer Jenk's questions, biting their tongue at his self importance and just trying to get through the process. The girls from the sports school however were far less convinced this was 'an adventure' and inclined to scoff. 

"She's probably just out for a run or doing something she shouldn't and worried about coming back." 

"She's only been missing a couple of hours, she'll turn up."

"We are missing Adventure Skills for this, will you just hurry up!" 

Maggie and Jenks ignored them, going over the questions again and again, then finally let them go. They hadn't come up with much, even with the careful questioning. Gerry and John returned and asked for an update, and Jenks listed the important facts as they knew them. 

"No one has seen her since last night. She seemed fine, although she was scared by the story."

"Rosie ? Scared by a kids story? She's too much of a tomboy for that!" 

"It was quite a scary one," fired up Maggie, defensive of her tale. "We didn't get to finish."

"If you will all let ME finish?" 

"Sorry! Carry on Constable Jenks!" 

Jenks gave them a black look. They knew he always chose to be an Inspector, or Captain in any games and it was a favourite tease of the older boys to call him Constable or Private to bring him down a peg or two. He was worried about Rosie though, so didn't rise.

"As I was saying, she seemed scared, but she fell asleep, everyone did as Aunt Lucy Ann was there with them making them be quiet. Then in the morning she wasn't there."

"Did anyone hear anything during the night?"

"I was coming to that. A few of the girls said they heard a bit of a clatter, and a slight groany noise, but that was it. No one went to investigate."

Jenks shut his notebook with a snap, his expression showing clearly his opinion of girls who left noises in the night uninvestigated. 

"I heard that too, but it wasn't much of a noise. I just thought it must be some of you playing your idiotic pranks." Maggie snapped. She was tired and worried, and it was always easy to see something needed investigating after the fact. 

Gerry cut in before Jenks could reply, trying to head off an argument before it started. 

"It sounds like either a kidnap or a secret passage. We need Timmy. Hopefully Josie will be back with him and Aunt Ge soon. Maybe Aunt Ge knows about a secret passage she wanted to keep secret."

John frowned. It wasn't like Aunt Ge not to tell them about something like this, she took the attitude that it was better to let them know where passages might be, so that they could use them if needed in an adventure. Still Timmy would hopefully clear all this up, what was taking Josie so long to come back with him?


	18. Chapter 18

Josie wasn't sure exactly where to go, though she knew Ge was out fixing boundaries. Usually if either twin headed in approximately the right direction Timmy would appear and guide them, so she was surprised when that didn't happen. All she could do was try each field in turn. 

It wasn't until the third field that she saw the mobile dog bed on the other side. As she ran towards it she looked around for Ge and Timmy. It wasn't until she got closer that she realised that Ge was kneeling by the side of the trailer, her arms round Timmy, and tears running down her face. 

Josie slowed. Timmy had been around all of her life, and was hugely important to her, almost as much as to Ge. She stood about 100 feet away, unable to move closer, Rosie's loss completely gone from her mind. The words of greeting stuck in her mouth and she felt as though time had stopped. Thankfully Ge looked up just at that moment. 

"Josie! What's wrong?" Ge pulled herself together, saw the look on her neice's face and hurried to reassure her. "No, it isn't...he isn't... It's not the worst... Not yet..." 

"Why are you crying then."

"He ... He's breathing, and he noticed me when I got really close, but... he doesn't seem to be able to hear me. It just, scared me."

"Can't hear? Timmy? Timmy?" 

Josie ran forward and put her own arms around Timmy, who gave her a bemused lick on the nose. He could see her mouth moving, but she seemed to be playing some sort of game, not making sound. George was doing that too, and she was crying which wasn't like his mistress. Timmy licked her face again. He wasn't sure what was upsetting her, but he knew that licking helped heal pain, so he struggled up to a sitting position and alternated his licks between the two important members of his pack, wondering what was wrong. 

Ge took a moment to remember that Josie should be in school, such was her relief that Timmy was alive. Though deep inside she knew that deafness like this was not a good sign, nor the fact that he seemed to be not smelling things quite as well; Josie's arrival would normally have been signalled by Timmy sniffing and turning his head towards the girl long before he had done so. Equally he hadn't noticed her own approach to the trailer until she was nearly on top of him, when he had jumped awake with a start; In fact he nearly made Ge herself leap backwards, so sure had she become that he must have gone. 

"Why are you here? What's wrong?" She asked, and Josie came to her senses. 

"Rosie - she's missing, and no one can find her. We think it's a secret passage situation, so we need you, but mainly we need Timmy, to see if he can find her." 

"Right, I'll bring him back straight away. You take the shortcut and run back, we'll probably get there about the same time." 

Ge set off back to the farm, Timmy's trailer bouncing along behind her. She was still very worried about Timmy, and wasn't too sure if his sense of smell had gone along with his hearing, but it was worth a try. She careened into the farmyard and rushed straight to the dormitory. Rosie, calling from her underground prison could have screamed in frustration. No one seemed to hear her, and the hole was taking an age to make bigger. She simply had to get some sort of sign out to the farmyard, as sound obviously wasn't carrying. Rosie gritted her teeth and through her tears of frustration she worked even harder at the hole, making it large enough to get her makeshift flag out. She finally managed it, pushed the wire and twine through, and started moving the flag about. Someone surely had to come back into the farmyard soon. She called out and whistled as she did so. Timmy would surely hear her, and find her, even if all the humans seemed to be being exceptionally dense. 

Inside the dormitory, everyone greeted Timmy and Ge with relief. Ge had wanted to keep Timmy's deafness a secret, until she could get him to a vet, but it looked like that might be difficult. She would have to make him understand that they were searching for Rosie, and people would realise something wasn't right very quickly. 

"Ok everyone, out of the way. Give Timmy some space. Out !" 

Thankfully Josie guessed what was going on, and pushed everyone out the door before they could think to object. Ge flashed a look of gratitude to her and knew the girl wouldn't tell anyone but her twin yet. 

"Ok Tim, we need to find Rosie. Rosie." She said to him, trying to make her voice stable, and her lips clear. He tipped his head and looked at her quizzically. This was a very strange game his mistress was playing. Why wasn't she making any sounds? 

She thought for a minute. She had asked Timmy to seek someone lost a lot of times. He would probably understand who to look for if he had something of Rosie's to smell. She just had to hope that he hadn't completely lost his sense of smell too. She looked around and grabbed Rosie's Teddy bear from her bed. It brought back so many memories, for it had been Anne's initially, and Ge just had to hope that Timmy took the scent and not the original owner of the object as the person to look for." 

"Seek Rosie! Seek her!" 

Timmy sniffed the bear. It smelled of Anne's girl child, and he looked up at Ge. The shape of her mouth made the familiar command to 'Seek', so that was what he did. He sniffed around Rosie's bed and then made straight for the cleaning cupboard. He scratched at the door, and Ge opened it for him. He went into the room, and headed towards the ring Rosie had pulled on, looking up at Ge. The scent ended here, and stayed strong, as if the girl was in the room. He didn't know what else to do. 

Ge looked around the room, sweeping aside cleaning products and looking for any sort of trap door, or panel. It all seemed to be stone flooring, and stone walls however. She sat on the floor of the cupboard, and looked all around her. There was no passage here that she knew about. Had Timmy misunderstood? Or had he mixed up the scents perhaps ? The bear had probably been washed with something similar to these cleaning products. 

She patted Timmy and went out to tell the others that it seemed to be a dead end. Timmy looked at her, back at the floor and then followed her out. He wasn't sure what was going on, but Anne's puppy was in danger, otherwise he wouldn't have been asked to find her. In addition she he could smell stress on her scent, he wasn't going to give up. 

He went first to Ge, but couldn't get her attention. So he went to Josie, and pulled on her sleeve. 

"What is it Tim?" 

She followed him, and he led her back to the cleaning cupboard, John and Gerry following close behind. She frowned as he showed her to the cupboard. 

"What is it Tim? You think she is here?" 

The Young Adventurers looked around. They couldn't see any way out. 

"If it is a passage, it has to be either this wall, that one" Gerry tapped the outer two walls, which were the originals, the others being recent internal partitions. "Or in the floor" 

While Josie and Gerry examined the walls and floor, John went back out, and measured by steps the position of the clearing cupboard. He then determinedly pushed his way through the crowd of adults, went outside and started to count steps to work out where a passage might have gone. 

The timing was finally right, as Rosie was just about to give up waving her flag for a moment, but decided on one last good shout and waggle. The sharp eyed boy immediately caught sight of the makeshift flag, and sped to the air brick. 

"Rosie? Rosie, are you there?" 

She nearly wept with relief. Her big cousin had always been just as protective of her as her brother and was a little bit smarter. If anyone could get her out, John would. 

"John! John help!" 

"I'm here, I'm here Rosie, now how do I get to you?" 

Her reply was nearly unintelligible, she was so worn out and happy to be found. 

"Say it again, Rosie, a ring did you say? Where?" 

Even as she tried to explain, he worked it out. 

"I'll get it open, just get down on the floor and back against the wall in case anything hits you" 

He raced back in, and pushed his way into the room, which was crowded now. 

"She's under the floor! Get out, everyone, get the things out too, I don't know where the trap door will open. 

"Gerry, go outside, there's an air brick, talk to her, make sure she is ok, she sounded exhausted." 

Gerry ran, and soon was talking to his sister, his heart torn by the sobs that he could hear in reply. Now that she had been found, the strain of the many hours in the darkness had hit her, and she couldn't hold back the tears any more. 

The others worked quickly, and soon the floor was clear. John looked at the rings, and saw one that was just a tiny but shinier, correctly guessing that this was from Rosie's hand. He twisted it first, and nothing happened. Rosie wasn't as strong as him, so it had to be reasonably easy to move the ring. He thought through what might have happened, and hit quickly on the correct solution. Telling the others to stand back, he pulled down heavily on the ring, and the stone tipped, nearly sending him down into the room himself. 

Thinking quickly, Sam reached in and held the ring down, with a broomstick. This let John release the handle, drop down to the room and lift Rosie out, to be swiftly bustled away to food, bath and bed. The cleaning cupboard was blocked up for now, until it could be investigated properly. 

The fact that Timmy was not able to hear had been missed by all but Ge and Josie in the excitement. Josie told John, as there were no secrets between the twins usually, and he loved Timmy just as much as she did. Ge obviously told Len, and they arranged a visit to the Vets straight away. The vet couldn't tell them much, other than warning them that Timmy was a very old dog, and signs like this tended to suggest he might be at risk of other problems. Ge was just thankful that he was still alive, and apart from the hearing issues seemed well and not in pain. 

The school were told, since he tended to become jumpy if people appeared out of nowhere, and everyone advised to make sure they approached him from the front. Timmy began to realise that this couldn't be a game, as everyone was playing it all the time. He started to guess from Ge's posture and lip movements what she was saying, and managed reasonably well, but it was tiring, and he started to chose to stay asleep in front of the fire much more than before. But as Ge said, having thought he was gone, she appreciated every day with him now. If he needed more sleep and was a little slower to respond, that was a small price to pay for still having Timmy.


	19. Chapter 19

Extract from Letter between Len Maynard and Joey Maynard

...so you can imagine how relieved we all were that John found her, I go cold thinking of how easily she could have been stuck there forever, as we all had no idea there was a storage room there. Ge thinks it must have been a hiding place for smuggled goods, but so far back that no one in living memory had used it. 

As you might expect, it's made us all very wary of other possible secret rooms or passageways. Nancy, Nell and Ge have made it their mission to check every possible panel, ring or lever. I came into the kitchen yesterday to find Ge up the chimney ! All I could see of her was the backs of her shoes and it was quite a job for her to get back out again. 

The explanation was that she had never checked it, and a lot of passages start in wide chimney spaces. That may well be true, but it still made me jump at least a foot when I heard the scrabbling about by the fireplace!

Timmy saved the day as ever, but I'm very worried about him, and specifically about Ge and the twins, when something eventually does happen. I hadn't really thought about it, as Bruno lived to such a grand old age, but smaller dogs like Timmy really don't live anything like as long as he has. 

I have been trying to decide whether it might be worth us getting a puppy now, so that it is a little bit of a transition between the two, if Timmy should go any time soon. I could see Ge being so devastated directly after a loss that she wouldn't be able to even consider another dog for a few years. That's all very well, but I think she would miss having a dog around. The twins certainly would - all the time I have known them Timmy has been their near constant companion when he can. Ge remembers in early days often finding the three of them all dozing in a heap after some exciting game, and I can well believe it. 

What do you think, would it be better now or to wait? Also do you have any idea what type of dog Timmy is, I can tell there must be collie in there somewhere, but apart from that he does seem to be quite a mix. Do you have any idea how I could go about finding a similar breed mix, or do you think a complete change would be best? I know when we were in Switzerland both Josie and Ge were very taken with Bruno, and obviously I'd secretly like a St Bernard, but I'm worried that I'm tempted that way for me rather than for them? 

In other news, we are all preparing for this potential inspection in every spare moment. We are confident that we are providing a safe (well mostly safe, barring secret passages!) and solid educational system for the adventurers, but it's really not your typical sort of school, and we sometimes don't know which is best, to stick to our guns and show ourselves the way we are, or change systems to more traditional ones to please the investigators. 

I had better wrap this letter up for now, as I really must get on with my marking. All of us send our love, and I hope Phil and Claire are enjoying their time at school now. I am glad to have Felix and Felicity here, but I would feel a bit sad thinking that there were no Maynards continuing on after Cecily, so I think it's the right choice. Especially with Phil's history, she'd struggle a bit to keep up here I think. The young adventurers remind me of a collection of monkeys sometimes, both in behaviour and acrobatics ! Some of the feats they get up to in adventure skills lessons amaze me, even now. 

Again, all love to everyone, and tell Steve he owes me a letter, he hasn't let me know if he still wants to take Felix and Felicity away at half term or not. I haven't mentioned it to them yet, in case he changes his mind. 

Len 

\----------------

Letter from Jo Maynard to Len 

Dear Len, 

I will reply properly as soon as I can, but wanted to send a quick note to confirm that Steve will take the twins out at half term, he spoke to Dad yesterday and I managed to check for you. 

I also wanted to answer about the dog situation. Personally I think Ge may find it hard to bond straight away with another dog anyway, as she has had Timmy since she was so young. I think you can't really make that decision for her, but will have to see how it goes. 

Having said that, I think for you, and possibly for the twins, having another dog around before the worst happens with Timmy could be a good thing.

I still remember how badly Rufus's passing affected you, much more than any of the others. You've always said to me you'd quite like a dog of your own when you were less busy. I know that hasn't happened yet, but to be honest as you get older life just gets busier, so there never will be an exactly perfect time for it. At least with you working so close to home you could manage a puppy quite well at the moment. 

I have no doubt that your school will grow, and so you will potentially have less free time later on in school hours to look after a puppy. It has to be your decision, but I think you should go for it - but for you, not for anyone else. If the twins and Ge bond with the puppy and it helps Timmy's passing then good, but a dog needs one clear owner, and I think you would get a lot of pleasure and support from having a dog of your own. 

The one thing I would say is if you make the decision, be prepared to put a lot of work in yourself, don't leave it to Ge or the children. I love Bruno dearly, but I also know that we made the mistake of having him too much a family dog, and not setting clear enough boundaries when he was small. He's a lot calmer now, but it's taken quite a lot of retraining to calm him down, as you know. 

If you do decide to go for a St Bernard, give Gwensi a call. A friend of her brother's from Howells village had a St Bernard, and I'm pretty certain that the puppies were Rufus's offspring. Those puppies would be well grown and likely parents or grandparents themselves by now, but it's always worth checking with someone you know first with a dog. 

With love to you all,

Mamma. 

\----------

Extract from a Letter between Bride Carrington and Madge Russell.

....I'm trying not to get too involved, as it's their affair really, but I wanted to ask your advice, Aunty Madge. 

As I said, in recent weeks I feel I have become unoffical counsellor for the ISAY school staff ! I've had Tom, Len, Con, Ge and finally Nancy and Kathy all appear at different times to visit, and all of them are worrying about the same thing. None of them know the others have been to see me, so it's most difficult not to go down there and bang their heads together and tell them to talk to each other more about their worries ! Oh, except Nancy and Kathy obviously, they arrived together, and I did invite them to visit deliberately. I wanted to try to get an idea of whether the others were just worrying unnecessarily, but it does sound like even the Heads are quite concerned. 

Basically they have this inspection coming up at some point after half term, and they are all convinced it is some sort of witch hunt to do with their personal lives, and that no matter how good the school is, the inspectors will fail them unless they can hide better. 

Now I really don't know how likely that is at all, but for them all to be this worried, I think we have to assume it is possible. Apparently they have had some sort of meeting with the relevant staff, and everyone is being more careful, but they have lost all perspective as to what is and isn't going to be an issue. 

Tom is the worst, she is convinced this is all her fault since the woman who started it all knew about her lifestyle. I do think that hasn't helped, but the issue was going to come up at some stage anyway. A part of me actually thinks it might be better that it comes up now, rather than a year or so down the line, when any habits or careless behaviour would be harder to change. 

Do you know anyone involved in school inspections? Do you have any sort of checklist that they used for the Chalet School branches in England and Wales? 

I just don't know how to help them. I can't really look at it all objectively, as I already know them all. When we first moved here I guessed pretty quickly with Ge, but I already suspected about Tom anyway, so I was perhaps able to notice more. Len and Con I've known since they were small, so to me they don't seem obvious, but perhaps to an outsider they would? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated ! 

Kevin and Kester are going from strength to strength, although their latest passion is climbing, so they keep appearing in the most random places, I came home yesterday to find them sitting on our garage roof trying to pick the apples from the top of the tree ! They were packed straight back off to school very quickly, and I don't think they will break bounds like that any time soon. It was nice to see them getting into mischief though in a way, after that last year where they were such sorry specimens...

\--------------

Extract from a Letter from Madge Russell to Bride Carrington

.... Yes I heard about K&K breaking bounds, you must let me know if they did any damage, Uncle Jem said to let him know and he will cover it, or rather the boys will, they need to learn to be a bit more respectful of other people's property ! I do agree, it is nice in a way to have them more like themselves. They really do seem to be happy at the school and learning well compared to before. 

Getting on to the questions you had about school inspections :

The person I think can help best with that is actually Aunty Hilda. After all she did a full term touring other schools looking at how they work, and she has several friends and contacts within the educational governing bodies.

In fact Aunty Nell has apparently been writing to her about all this as well, and Jo mentioned that Len and Margot had written to her about it, so it does seem like at least half the staff are worried. They can't go on like that, I quite agree. 

Leave it with me, I think I have a plan. I think I will have a chat with Nancy and Kathy, and suggest a mock inspection, but under the disguise of a friendly visit. So if you hear that I am coming to 'see the school' don't give the game away ! It will at least give us a reasonable idea of what we were dealing with, and we can go from there. 

With love from all of us, 

Aunty Madge


	20. Chapter 20

"I'd swear they seem to know LESS than they did last term !" fumed Ted one evening, as she crossed out the majority of a page and reached for the red ink to refill her pen for it seemed the umpteenth time that week. 

Murmurs of sympathy could be heard all around the staff room, but they were all too busy marking and trying to wrack their brains for ways to keep the lessons at least vaguely on track to answer properly. Once the day's work was done however, the staff ended up venting their frustrations to Nancy and Kathy, who had arrived shortly after the evening meal with a box of chocolate biscuits and a request for better coffee than they could make on their gas ring. 

"It's like teaching kindergarten at times, then suddenly being surrounded by university students at others - nothing in between!" 

Charlie Mackenzie said, looking most unlike herself; with a groove in her forehead, fighting back a headache. 

"Too true!" replied Tom Gay, leaning back in her chair with a frown. "I'm pretty lucky with my subjects. They seem to see woodwork as a useful skill and latin as being like a code a lot of the time, so it keeps their attention. With some I've even had to brush up on my own translating skills just to keep up! But ask them to complete homework on time, follow even the most basic safety rules or plan something, and they make really elemental mistakes through carelessness - or just not paying attention to the question."

Several of the staff nodded in agreement. It wasn't that the students were actively naughty, many of them just seemed to struggle with anything other than things that they saw an immediate need for. 

"It doesn't help that they are such a mixed bag" said Len thoughtfully. 

"Not one of them is an all rounder, they all have specialist interests and skills. Get them on a subject that matches that and they often are streets ahead of the rest - but the basic groundwork is always shaky." 

Nancy nodded, and agreed.

"The young adventurers are bright, mostly honourable and completely uneven in their education so far. They either know something to a level far beyond that normally taught in school - usually practical mathematics or code related skills in my experience. But just don't stay STILL long enough to learn a rule or to work a problem out properly." 

"Mostly honourable?"

Ge had been quiet up till now, trying not to get too involved. She was doing her best not to take it personally and want to defend the adventurers. Several of them were members of her extended or actual family after all, so she had enough sense to see that she might not be able to see them objectively. She wasn't as concerned by academic success as many parents, but knew exam results were important, so accepted the criticism of the school work. But honour was a different thing. 

"What do you mean by that, are any of them being dishonourable?" 

Nancy could see the warning signs, and tried to work out how to explain what she meant without offending. The truth was that all ages of the adventurers tended to see the world through their own internal sense of right and wrong. They would never think of stealing from anyone needy or hurting anyone weaker than themselves, but when it came to finer moral judgements, they weren't as careful about such things as she was used to in Chalet School girls. 

She decided to go with the simplest of the aspects of not behaving quite to the moral level expected, then she didn't risk offending any of the adults. 

"Unfortunately, they see most forms of authority as something to either rebel against or work around. It's hard to explain..."

Kathry tried to help, as she could see Nancy was struggling. 

"For example, on occasion we suddenly have excellent overall reports from a particular group - because they have clearly worked together in prep to see what the answers are. The ones that are good at one subject have answered one part, and swopped answers with each other to come to a useable result for them all, them rewritten in their own handwriting. Great teamwork, but it isn't the spirit of doing the prep subjects themselves. It's a form of cheating really. All to get through their work in the fastest time possible."

Ge just stopped herself from smiling at this. She realised it wasn't exactly the right way to go about things, but she did think that solution quite resourceful. 

It was all a question of different perspective. The adventurers had all seen real danger and knew the world to be a more complex place than simple school ethics allowed. However she did see the issue for the teachers. The young adventurers were used to just scraping through school as a way to pass the time till the next adventure. For the previous generation, often family money and connections had meant that didn't make too much difference. But the world was changing, and this next generation would need more options for making income. They did need to understand that they had to knuckle down a bit more, rather than taking the easy way out. 

"I see what you mean. It's not so much honour as playing by the rules."

Kathy and Nancy didn't really see the distinction, cheating was always dishonourable in their eyes. They decided not to push the issue, as it would do no good to alienate the older adventurers. They let the staff have their say for a bit, interested to see whether their own analysis was right. 

"They're very uneven in general concentration and skills like making sure their prep is done on time and handed in."

"That's where the Chalet group and even the sports-mad girls may actually perform better in the end, even though a lot of them aren't technically as bright as the adventurers."

"Mmmm hmmm. Yes.The non adventurers are able to see prep as a necessary evil, and know that they'll lose marks and privileges if they are late or forget, so they at least do try ..."

"Exactly. If it's done wrong, then you can see where they need help. The adventurers either forget what needs to be done when, or seem to think that we just want the answer, not the working out." 

There were many murmurs of agreement to this. 

"When we get to the stage of public exams, they will struggle, unless they can learn to... Well the best description is learn to learn."

Kathy saw that the comments were drying up and rejoined the conversation. 

"I find just the same in my own lessons. It's a real challenge getting them to show their working, even if some of them seem to be able to just get the answer right without effort. Others of them just don't know the basics, so keep having to start from scratch with everything."

Nancy nodded. "I've taught many many naughty middles in my time, but I have to admit I'm stumped. There was always a system for helping students reach the right all round level. We are too small a school to have much extra tutoring, especially as it is so many of them, but we do need to find some way to get them more...well - Well Rounded." 

Several of the less experienced teachers were relieved to hear this, as Nancy had fully intended. 

Each member of staff individually had been concerned about this situation, but many of them were too new to the job to realise it was a problem with the students in this case. A lot of them thought it was their own lesson planning or teaching ability at fault. To hear more experienced staff say that it was an unusual situation helped their confidence, but still left them with the question of how to deal with the students. 

"It's a real puzzle, and I'm lost as to how to deal with some of them." Charlie Mackenzie added. "I can get essays that mix up Napoleon with Nelson, and carelessness with dates that would actually result in time travel for the people concerned..." 

"Time travel?" Interjected Sam Harbottle, looking bemused. 

"Well either that or reincarnation..." Said Charlie, with a smile. "More than one of them have told me that various people won battles in the same essay as telling me the person died 20 years previously. Or even suggested the event happened in a different century to the correct one. It's the detail again - they will often get the year right perhaps but not whether it was 17th, 18th or 19th century!" 

Con Maynard nodded and added her own comment. "Exactly! Then I'll mention something like a situation in Eastern Europe for comparison and get answers from a 9 year old in detail I have to go and check myself !"

Mike and Lucy Ann Arnold stifled a grin and asked whether it had been one of their offspring or relatives that had done that, to be told it was, their daughter Maggie in fact. 

"That doesn't surprise me," said Lucy Ann. "A year or so ago they were accidentally kidnapped along with their cousin Prince Llony, and had to trek across Bulgaria and solve a centuries old riddle to escape from a treasure chamber. Even now Mags sometimes mutters in Bulgarian in her sleep." 

Various of the non adventurer staff looked at each other and wondered quite how to follow that statement. This was the problem - very few people had had the experiences these children had had. Many of them had been forced to be hugely independent at a young age, and gone through quite complicated and stressful situations. No wonder they struggled to follow rules and routines that seemed pointless to their view of a "real" world. 

"Another thing is respecting privacy." Said Belinda Morris suddenly. 

She didn't tend to get involved that much in staff room discussions, as the students did mostly try in her art lessons, especially when she showed them how accurate sketching could help them keep records of villains and locations to help identify suspects. But she had a reason for wanting to discuss the issue. 

Irene nodded. "The other day we'd just got up - and thankfully dressed - only to look out of the window and find ourselves looking at a student's back running away along the flat roof! I'm still not entirely sure who it was - one of the girls I think; But they were clearly trying to look in and didn't expect us to be there at that time of day. And we wouldn't have been, if I hadn't slept late. You see I suddenly thought of the most wonderful melody just as we went to bed. It went de de dee derry de..." 

Belinda cut in quickly. Irene would go through the whole tune if allowed to when in the midst of composition. This was why her lessons were always in the afternoon, as it seemed so often to be just after midnight when the muse would strike, and nothing would get in the way of Irene writing it down, although she did remember mostly now not to start playing it in the middle of the night. 

"I don't THINK it was a peeping Tom sort of situation, but obviously we do have to consider it. But whatever the reason they really shouldn't be up on that roof, and they definitely shouldn't be trying to get into staff quarters. I drew this quick sketch but couldn't really identify them from it."

Bill looked thoughtful. She had some idea from the sketch of who it might be, and resolved to have a quiet word with Nancy and Kathy. It wouldn't help to openly air suspicions at this point, but she was fairly sure it was one of the girls from the sports-mad school, and had a good idea of what she was trying to do. 

Everyone looked serious at the idea that the students might be spying on them, and more than one resolved to lock their windows and shut blinds more often. They were all very grateful for the chance to live more settled lives as couples here, but knew only too well that the outside world could look very poorly upon some of their living arrangements. 

The conversation slowed to a stop for a moment, and they all were clearly trying to work out what was best to do. They knew that they had to try to get the adventurers to focus, and develop some sort of ability to pass exams, not just because of the inspection to be allowed an exam centre, but also for their own good. Many of them were at an age where they would soon be held legally accountable for their actions, and it was a far harsher world now in terms of the police being able to turn a blind eye to some activities if the end result was a criminal caught.

Nancy and Kathy let the silence run for a while, then asked whether anyone had any ideas. 

"I think the issues actually in lessons themselves will calm down once the term gets a bit further on." Said Len. "They have too much energy at the moment, but last term the routine eventually managed to get them to a state where they weren't 'bouncing off the walls' the way they are at the moment. The moral issues are a difficult one though. Ge, Julian, Mike and Lucy-Ann, do you have any suggestions?" 

The older adventurers looked at each other, but each in turn shook their head. 

"I think we all feel that deep down the children don't mean to be dishonorable." Said Lucy-Ann hesitantly. 

"But they do...take short cuts, and resist authority sometimes. I for one see that that could be an issue. How to solve it though is another question. I know with our own children getting them exercising a lot and explaining the reasons for rules helps, but other than that I just don't know."


End file.
